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In the fairyland of Hmerica 











IN THE FAIRYLAND 
OF AMERICA 


A Tale of the Pukwudjies 

BY / 

HER BERT QUICK 

WITH FOR TY- THREE ILL USER A TIONS 

BY 

E. W. D EM I N G 

* 


NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


.( 24 - 

HT/tu 


THE LIBRARY QF 
CONGRESS, 
Two Cowes Received 

OCT. 18 1901 


Copyright entry 



/Giec 

COPY B. 


Copyright, 1901, bs 

tfrefcerick B. Stokes Company 


DEDICATION. 


The best stories we children ever know are those, never 
printed, which some low, familiar voice speaks into our 
ears at that twilight hour when sleep treads softly upon the 
heels of weariness, and the tale swims vaguely off into the 
dreams which supplant it. To her who, in such wise, first 
led my steps into the land of faery and fable — to my 
mother — I affectionately dedicate this little book. 

H. Q. 


■ ■: ' • ' : 


























































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CHAP. 

CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I. 

Met-a-icon-a-gon-tu-la-kang-tug-koosh, 

13 

II. 

Edgar is Introduced to Young Fawn, 

IQ 

III. 

The Wild-Cat Appears, .... 

• 33 

IV. 

By the Camp Fire, ...... 

• 43 

V. 

Edgar Visits the Professor, 

• 59 

VI. 

Inversion and Lamentation, 

73 

VII. 

Wild- Cat Explains, 

• 83 

VIII. 

The Legend of Pearl Hair, 

. 91 

IX. 

A Lecture on Baldness 

. 105 

X. 

Dinners, Meetings and Rules, . 

. 1 17 

XI. 

The Three Wishes, 

• 131 

XII. 

At Sea in a Lady’s-Slipper Blossom, 

• H3 

XIII. 

Down the Companion-Way, .... 

• 153 

XIV. 

In the Medicine-Lodge 

. .65 

XV. 

The Last Wishes, ...... 

. 177 



































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t 








I • • ■ 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

“ ‘ Outside of zvhat ? ’ said Drifting Goose " . . Frontispiece 

“ Screech-owls talked together" . ...... 20 

“ Listening for the wild-cat" . . . . . . .21 

“ Young Faivn, the squaw of Drifting Goose " .... 23 

“ Welcome to the wigwam of Drifting Goose . . . . 25 

“ The smoke .... was acting very queerly" . . . 31 

“ He jumped through each of them, as a bareback rider jumps 

through paper hoops" 35 

“ Last night 1 tried rabbits " . . . . . .39 

“ Came upon a village of Pukzvudjie lodges " . . *43 

“ The zvi id-cat rose .... and, in the saddest manner in the 

zvorld , spoke " . . . . . . . . -45 

“ Oh, my mother zvept as 1 zvent away " 47 

“ With policemen hunting him through the zvood ... 48 
“ Their parents fierce came bristling home" .... 49 
“ Then back to our gloomy cave zvent zve zvith our • treasures in 

bags and bales" . . . . . . . -53 

“ Wild-cat rose and bozved, zvith his halo in his hand " . . 55 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 




PAGE 

“ He perched upon Edgar s shoulder ” 

. 

63 

“ A number of little Pukwudjie pappooscs standing on 

their heads ” 

65 

“ Medal s School ” ...... 

. 

67 

“ The Professor ”...... 

. 

74 

“ It is strapped with its back on a board” . 

. 

77 

“ He took Edgar by the arm . 

. 

79 

“ It is the memory stick which records the story of Pearl Hair ” 

88 

“ The cranes sailed away toward their home ” . 

. 

93 

“ The osprey .... was forced to drop his dinner ” 

. 

97 

“ They were rushing on to tear her ” . 

. 

100 

“ The wild-cat demands an explanation . 

. 

107 

“ He was scampering away in the form of a mouse ” 

1 18 

“ He saw a large frog sitting alone at a table ” 

. 

121 

“ The meeting dispersed” ..... 

. 

127 

“ The snake-doctor poised lightly on the tip of the tallest bul- 


rush ”...... 


132 

“ Out from behind the rushes came a vessel ” 

. 

i 35 

“ Cross-tag” 


147 

“ Tzvo fiery eyeballs appeared in the darkness ” . 

. 

155 

“ The Thunder-bird ” 

. 

160 

“ Mcda's medicine-lodge” ..... 

. 

165 

“ Dressed to i make medicine 

. 

167 

“ Edgar and the medicine-man sat on the ground” 

. 

171 

“ Reciting 1 the corpuscle s zvar-cry * ” 

. 

179 

“ Only to see a great zvild gander and goose rise from the deck ” 

oc 


JMet-a-hon-a-gon-tu-la-hang-tug-koosb 




























IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


CHAPTER I. 

MET-A-ICON-A-GON-TU-LA-KANG-TUG-KOOSH. 

Edgar’s mamma was in the habit of reading to him every 
evening about Hiawatha, old Nokomis, the beautiful 
Minnehaha, and their life in the forest long ago, when birds 
and beasts and fishes talked with one another and with good 
little Indian boys, who went hunting with bows and arrows. 
She would tuck him into his little bed and read these things 
to him until he fell asleep. Then he slept soundly until 
morning. 

Now, the first thing he saw when he awoke one morn- 
ing was a door opening out of his bedroom, just where the 
window had always been, and a queer little figure standing 
in the doorway. It seemed to be a little man, but was only 
two or three feet high ; and at first Edgar thought it was 
Harold, a little boy who lived across the way. But Harold 
was much taller, and his face was white, while the face of this 
little man was copper-colored. He had fringed buckskin 

13 


14 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


lcggins, deerskin moccasins, and some kind of garment 
hanging down his back from his head to his heels, with 
a comb of bright-colored feathers running down the mid- 
die of it. His clothes were covered with beadwork. He 
carried a tomahawk in his belt, and had a tiny bow and a 
quiver full of little arrows on his back. “ No,” said Edgar 
to himself, ‘‘it certainly can’t be Harold. If I were look- 
ing at it the wrong way through my telescope, 1 should 
think it an Indian chief. But my telescope is in its case, 
and mamma says the Indian chiefs left this country years 
and years ago. Maybe it is a fossil Indian. I’ll ask it.” 

He slipped out of bed and stepped toward the little 
stranger. 

“ Good morning,” he said, politely. 

“ Ugh !” said the visitor, without looking at him. 

“That’s its word for ‘good morning,’” thought Edgar, 
and said aloud : “ Will you please tell me, are you a fossil 
Indian ?.” 

“ What’s a fossil Indian ?” he asked, sharply. 

“ I don’t quite know, but ” began Edgar. 

“ Then what good would it do if I should tell you ?” the 
stranger demanded. “ Don’t ask foolish questions. What’s 
your name ? ” 

“ Edgar. I’ve got two more, though. They are ” 

“Never mind about the others,” said the little fellow; 
“ one name is quite enough. Your name is Edgar. Mine 


ME T-A-KON A-GON- TU-LA -KANG- TUG-KOOSH. 1 5 

is Met-a-kon-a-gon-tu-la-kang-tug-koosh. Please address me 
by that name in future, Master Edgar, as I shall take care 
to do by you. The great chief of the Pukwudjies has 
spoken. ” 

“ How do you spell it ?” asked Edgar. 

“Spell what?” asked the chief, with so much sharpness 
that Edgar did not care to push the inquiry further. 
Finally, “I don’t think I can remember it,” said PTlear. 

“Very well,” said the chief, “as a special mark of favor I 
will allow you to call me 4 Drifting Goose.’ Met-a-kon-a- 
gon-tu-la-kang-tug-koosh means Drifting Goose.” 

“ In your language ?” 

“No,” said the chief, “it means Drifting Goose in 
English ; in the speech of the Pukwudjies it means Met-a- 
kon-a-gon-tu-la-kang-tug-koosh.” 

“ I shall call you Drifting Goose. The other is a little 
too hard for me. It reminds me of ‘ valetudinarianism ’ and 
4 honorificabilitudininitatibus,’ only ” 

“ Ugh !” interrupted Drifting Goose, and seemed to be 
trying hard to understand something. After a long pause, 
during which he filled the head of his tomahawk with 
tobacco, he went on gravely : “ The paleface has spoken well. 
Let us change the subject.” He was silent all the time 
Edgar was dressing. Then he took from his pouch a tiny 
flint and began trying to light his pipe by striking fire into 
it from the flint. 


1 6 IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 

“ It will never do to let him smoke in here,” said Edgar ; “ it 
would scent the curtains with tobacco, and mamma doesn’t 
like that.” So he politely inquired, “ Wouldn’t you like to 
walk in the garden or sit on the porch, Drifting Goose ? 
The air is so much fresher outside, you know.” 

“ Outside of what ?” said Drifting Goose. 

“ Outside of the house.” 

“ Outside of what house ?” 

“ Why, this, ” began Edgar, when suddenly he noticed 

that they were in a forest, and that nothing was to be seen 
of any house, look where he might. There were great trees 
here and there, and grass and flowers and birds ; and 
running right along where Edgar had supposed his bed to 
be was a clear little brook, but no house. The brook seemed 
familiar to Edgar, somehow ; and on looking at them 
closer, the trees and hills had a look far from strange. ** I 
can’t surely be anywhere within a thousand miles of home,” 
he thought, “ for I know Drifting Goose must be one of the 
fairies mamma read about in Hiawatha, and fairies always 
take you into other worlds. But this looks like our ravine. 
And there’s my name and Baby Annabel’s cut on that tree ; 
and it must be our ravine.” 


6dgar is Introduced to Y oun S fawn 


1 7 







CHAPTER II. 


EDGAR IS INTRODUCED TO YOUNG FAWN. 

This ravine was a favorite spot, often chosen by Edgar 
for his rambles and picnics. It was only a mile or so in 
length, and so narrow that a Pukwudjie might shoot an arrow 
across it at its widest part. Its sides were steep and grassy 
hills, so high that a crow sitting on the top of the highest 
tree in the valley could not see out over the surrounding 
country. The little stream ran from side to side, and in its 
loops were the most beautiful grass-plots in the world. 
It grew shady here very early in the afternoon, and to lie 
on one of these grassy spots in the shade of the hills, gaz- 
ing up through the linden-boughs at the blue sky, listening 
to the drumming of woodpeckers, the screaming of jays and 
the cooing of doves, and watching the sailing clouds with 
the birds darting across their white bosoms, was a pleasure 
to be remembered. 

It grew shady early in the afternoon, and dark early ifi 
the evening ; and then frogs croaked in the brook, whip- 
poor-wills called from tree to tree, and big-eyed little screech- 
owls talked together in trembling voices, as if they were 

19 


20 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 



afraid of the dark, and gobbled up the mice which were out 
making their evening calls. Rabbits hopped gravely from 
knoll to knoll. More than this, as Edgar firmly believed, 
at least one wild-cat walked softly along the dusky paths, 
and waited patiently at crossings for rabbits. 


He had never been in the ravine at night, but his papa 
had often told him a story of a wild-cat down in the “ deep, 
dark ravine.” It was Edgar’s favorite story. His papa, in 
telling it, spoke the words “deep” and “dark” in a voice 
which made little children who heard it shut their eyes and 


“ SCREECH-OWLS TALKED TOGETHER.” 


EDGAR IS INTRODUCED TO YOUNG FAWN. 


21 


cling to some one, and ask to have it all told over again as 
soon as he had finished. It was a beautiful, creepy story, 
almost as good as a ghost story. But in all he had told of 
wild-cats, rabbits, screech-owls, and the other little folks of 



“ LISTENING FOR THE WILD-CAT.” 

the ravine, his papa had said never a word about Pukwudjies. 
But for all that, here was Drifting Goose marching along 
the sheep-path with the air of a person perfectly at home ; 


22 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


and here was Edgar walking - behind him with no fear ex- 
cept that he was a little afraid he might step on the great 
chief of the Pukwudjies and hurt him. And to him Edgar 
repeated aloud, “ Why, it’s our ravine ! ” To which Drift- 
ing Goose simply said, “ Ugh ! ” 

In fact he seemed to be getting graver as he went on. 

o o o 

He stopped where the path turned sharply around the 
foot of a little hill, saying, “ The paleface will stand here. 
Drifting Goose will come back soon.” Then he crawled 
cautiously to the top of the bank, peeked over it at some- 
thing on the other side, and seemed to be listening. Edgar 
could hear a shrill voice singing something which sounded 

o o o 

like “ Choo-hoo m-m-m choo-hoo m-m-m la-loo la-loo la-loo 
m-m-m-m-m ! ” repeated over and over again. 

“ It’s all right,” said Drifting Goose, coming back smiling. 
“ Let us go on.” 

They passed the turn in the path and came upon a little 
tepee just on the other side of the bank over which Drifting 
Goose had been looking. The top of the tepee was only a 
little higher than Edgar’s head. Out of a hole in the peak 
came a tiny curl of smoke. The singing still continued 
inside. 

“ Ahem ! ” said Drifting Goose, loudly. The singing 
stopped. 

“ Paleface brother,” he began, “ the great chief of the 
Pukwudjies is about to confer upon you a great honor. He 


EDGAR IS INTRODUCED TO YOUNG FAWN. 


23 



is about to make you acquainted with the belle of our peo- 
ple, the most beautiful of the Pukwudjies, Young - Fawn, 
the squaw of Drifting Goose.” 

“ I am very much obliged to you, I’m sure,” said Edgar. 

Drifting Goose, dropping his voice to a whisper, said : 
“ I think it will be all right, if you’re 
very careful ; ” then, in a louder voice, 

“ Welcome to the wigwam of Drifting 
Goose.” As he said this he drew aside 
the flap of the tepee and walked in, 
followed by Edgar, who had to crawl 
in on his hands and knees, the entrance 
was so low. There was a fire burning in 
the middle of the room. He noticed 
this at once ; for he had hardly got his 
feet inside the flap when his 
nose was brought exactly over 
the fire. The smoke went up 
his nostrils and he began sneez- 
ing. The first sneeze blew the 
ashes &ncl some of the sparks 
and embers all about the tepee ; 
the second only made it worse ; and before he could stop, 
there was hardly any of the fire left in its place. He sat 
up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and, looking around him, 
saw across the room a little squaw, shorter and much fatter 


“ YOUNG FAWN, THE SQUAW OF 
DRIFTING GOOSE.” 


24 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


than Drifting Goose, jumping up and down, and screaming 
with anger. 

“ Now you have done it,” said Drifting Goose in a whis- 
per. “ My dear,” said he to Young Fawn, when she stopped 
jumping — “ my dear, I am sure you will be glad to meet 
this young gentleman.” 

“ Oh, yes ! I’m delighted, I am ! I like to have my break- 
fast sneezed full of ashes by a great thing like that ! I’m 
glad to have sparks and coals of fire blown into every 
corner of the wigwam, of course I am ! And not a muskrat- 
skin of insurance on anything ! And what difference does 
it make whether I want to meet him or not ” 

“ My dear ,” Drifting Goose edged in, but Young 

Fawn was not to be stopped. 

“ I’m a mere slave ! I must obey ! I must do the com- 
mands of Drifting Goose, and be sneezed out of house and 
home at this time in the morning without saying a word ! 
I must carry water, and dress skins, and hoe corn, and 
pound pemmican, and I— I — I— — and Young Fawn 
began jumping up and down worse than ever. 

“ She’s hysterical,” said Drifting Goose ; “ she’s not 

out of temper at all. It’s just away she has. She is the 
best tempered girl in the world. That’s why we call her 
Young Fawn, she’s such a little dear, you know ! Young 
Fawn, Young Fawn ! This is the young gentleman who 
climbs trees and cuts his name in the bark, and ” 








EDGAR IS INTRODUCED TO YOUNG FAWN , 


2 7 


“Your slave hears,” said Young Fawn. “The tepee of 
Drifting Goose is open to the paleface brother. He may 
sneeze the very skins off the tepee, and Young Fawn must 
bear it without a word. She must be meek and quiet, for 
that’s a squaw’s place ! She must ” 

“ I think we had better take a walk about the neighbor- 
hood,” said Drifting Goose. “ There are several things 
which I wish to show you.” 

Edgar was so much embarrassed by the sneezing and 
Young Fawn’s behavior that he hardly knew what to do; 
but he thought it only proper to be polite to the lady in 
whose house he was a visitor, even though she did scold 
so, and as he crawled out of the tepee he said to her: “I 
bid you good morning ,Mrs. Goose.” But she paid no atten- 
tion to him, except to scream louder and louder because he 
dragged his toe through the fire as he turned to crawl out. 

Drifting Goose smoked in silence for a while after they 
came out into the open air. Then he said : “ I told you to 
be very careful ! ” 

“ I am very sorry. I beg your pardon,” said Edgar. 
“ Fhe tepee is so small, you know, and ” 

“ The paleface is forgiven,” said Drifting Goose. “As 
for the tepee, it is large enough, as any one in the ravine 
will tell you. It would have been all right if it hadn’t been 
for that sneezing.” 

“ But one can’t very well help sneezing when smoke goes 
up one’s nose,” said Edgar. 


28 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“Absurd stuff and nonsense!” said Drifting Goose, 
drawing a long draught at his pipe, and puffing the smoke 
from his nose until it reminded Edgar of a double smoke- 
stack to an engine. “ The idea of sneezing on account of 

o o 

smoke in the nose ! ” 


Che iCIUd-cat Hppears 





■■ 



the SMOKE .... WAS ACTING VERY (^UEERLY. 






• . 



















» 


























I 






« 








'•> 




I 











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• • 

k 













J 







































































































































CHAPTER III. 


THE WILD-CAT APPEARS. 

The behavior of Young Fawn had disturbed Edgar so 
much that he hardly noticed for a few moments that the 
smoke from the nostrils of Drifting Goose was acting very 
queerly. It curled up in a spiral form, then swelled out 
like a balloon, and seemed to darken the whole sky. 

“ It must be a tornado,” thought Edgar at first. “ They 
always taper down to a point. I think we’d better go down 
cellar.” 

Then he remembered there was no cellar, and no house 
to blow down upon him, and no one but himself and Drift- 
ing Goose in danger. “ Besides,” thought he, “ do torna- 
does ever stand in one place, with their points in people’s 
noses? There is no wind, no rain, no roar, no thunder 
and lightning, no people flying through the air, no straws 
beino- driven into stone walls, and no chickens with their 
feathers all blown off. It can’t be a tornado.” Edgar’s 
papa had been reading an account of a tornado a day or so 
before, and he had his own ideas about these storms. 

By this time the cloud from the nose of Met-a-kon-a-gon- 

33 


34 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


tu-la-kang-tug-koosh had spread out so as to make the 
entire valley as dark as late twilight. 

“I know what it is,” said Edgar; “ it’s a genie. That’s 
just the way the genie acted when the fisherman in my 
Arabian Nights let him out of the vase. But Drifting- 
Goose is a Pukwudjie, and Pukwudjies are a kind of 
fairy, too. And who ever heard of one fairy coming out of 
another fairy’s nose ? It’s ridiculous. Perfectly ridiculous ! ” 
He repeated these long words for the purpose of seeing 
whether they would affect Drifting Goose as “ honorificabil- 
itudinitatibus ” had done. “ I declare, I don’t know what 
it is. I never saw anything like it in my life. Why, it is 
as dark as can be. I can see the stars. Really, it’s just as 
if Drifting Goose’s smoke had changed the time of day.” 

As Edgar said “ perfectly ridiculous,” Drifting Goose 
stepped aside a little and stopped sending the smoke out 
of his nostrils. Then he took another long pull at the pipe, 
and began puffing rings of smoke from his mouth, just as 
smokers often do. But these rings, instead of dissolving in 
the air, kept growing larger, and whirling faster, and mov- 
ing in regular order down the path in front of Drifting- 
Goose, until there were a dozen or more of them spinning 
in the air above the path, all in a row. They shone like 
the scratch of a damp match in the dark, and looked prettier 
than Chinese lanterns even on a Fourth of July. 

While Edgar was looking at them he heard a loud 


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/ 













































. 








. 






THE WILD-CAT APPEARS. 


37 


“ Meow,” and saw a large wild-cat come running toward 
them in the path. When the wild-cat came to the rings 
he jumped through each of them, as a bareback rider jumps 
through paper hoops in the circus. The last but one he 
went through with a neat back-somersault. The last one 
was so new and so small that he could only poke his 
nose through it before running against the pipe, which he 
came near driving down the chiefs throat. He threw him- 
self down on the grass, panting, and said : “ Beg your 

pardon, Drifting Goose. Didn’t mean to run into you, 
really. Misjudged the distance, you know. No offense, I 
hope.” 

Drifting Goose looked at his pipe and saw that the 
tobacco had been knocked out of it. Then he put it back 
in his belt, where it had hung when Edgar first saw it, ready 
for use as either pipe or tomahawk. He wiped his mouth 
with his hand, looked to see if there was any blood on it, 
and, finding none, he said: “Ugh! Wild-Cat heap care- 
less.” 

Then he walked angrily away, leaving Edgar and the 
wild-cat together. 

This new companion lay panting on the grass in a patch 
of white moonlight. He was very fat and sleek. He 
had a necklace of elks’ teeth about his neck, and wore a 
brightly decorated buckskin jacket. 

“ Some folks are mighty touchy, mighty touchy,” said he 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


38 

to Edgar. Then he went on : “ Stranger in this neighbor- 
hood ? ” 

“No,” said Edgar, “not exactly. I have been here lots 
of times, but I’m not very well acquainted yet.” 

“ Friend of Drifting Goose?” 

“Yes ; that is, you know, I never met him until this morn- 
ing, — or to-night, rather. I don’t quite know whether it is 
night or morning. The time of the day changes down here 
so funnily ” 

“Well,” said Wild-Cat, “are you in the habit of living 
where it doesn't change ? ” 

“ No,” Edgar began, 

“Well, then, it seems to me that you shouldn’t be sur- 
prised if it changes here. Now, ‘ down here,’ as you call it, 
when it’s dark, and the moon and stars come out, and the 
frogs croak, and screech-owls and whip-poor-wills try to sing, 
we call it night. What do you call it where you live ?” 

“Why, we call it night, too,” said Edgar. 

“ Then, I don’t see that there’s the least thing to con- 
fuse you,” said Wild-Cat. “ Maybe you’re nervous. Bad 
thing, nervousness. My trouble is insomnia. Sometimes 
I can’t sleep for weeks at a time. Nothing helps me blit 
gymnastics or rabbits. I’m trying gymnastics to-night. 
Last night I tried rabbits. Don’t know what I shall do to- 
morrow night if I can’t get to sleep by morning. Did you 
ever have insomnia ? Curious disease. Don’t know what 


THE WILD-CAT AT TEATS. 


39 


causes it. In my case I think it came from heart disease. 
I have always been too tender-hearted. Oh, my young- 
friend, do not, I beg of you, stay out in the night air, or lie 
on the damp grass, or eat peanuts before going to bed, or 
do anything which may give you insomnia. Our whole 
family are subject to it.” 



LAST NIGHT I TRIED RABBITS.” 


He laid his claws fondly on Edgar’s shoulder, and seemed 
about to weep. Edgar thought it would be better to talk 
of something more cheerful than diseases, so he said : 

“ I think you must be the Wild-Cat papa has told me 
about.” 

Wild-Cat burst into tears. “Yes,” sobbed he, “yes, 
I presume lie’s heard something of me; but I can tell you 


40 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


things of which you have never dreamed, — things to make 
your blood run cold ! My career has been a dark one. 
Let me tell it to you. It may do you good.” 

“ I shall be very glad to hear it,” said Edgar. 


By the Camp fire 


41 




















CHAPTER IV. 


BY THE CAMP FIRE. 

They walked down the path arm in arm. Wild-Cat 
dried his tears with his paw and seemed quite cheerful 



again. As they went along, the way grew lighter, as if there 
were a fire somewhere near, but it was out of sight. At 


43 


44 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


last they passed a clump of trees, and came upon a village 
of Pukwudjie lodges, with several bright camp fires blazing 
in the open air, and a great many of the little people sit- 
ting and lying about on the grass, just as Indians are 
pictured as doing in books. Drifting Goose and Young 
Fawn were among the rest, and both of them shook hands 
with Edgar in a very friendly way, and just as if they had 
not seen him for a long time. They made room for him to 
sit down on the grass by the fire. Wild-Cat bowed to 
Young Fawn, nodded to Drifting Goose, sat down by the 
fire, and seemed to be trying to look sad. All the Puk- 
wudjies came, and, crossing their little feet, sat down in 
*a circle, with Wild-Cat, Young Fawn, Drifting Goose 
and Edgar in the middle. No one said anything for a long 
time. At last Drifting Goose rose and said : “ Our next 
number will be a declamation by Wild-Cat, ‘ The Ballad of 
the Wild-Cat.’ ” 

Wild-Cat rose, bowed to the company, and, in the saddest 
manner in the world, spoke. 

THE BALLAD OF THE WILD-CAT. 

I’m the kitten that once to its mother said 2 
“ I’ll never more be good, 

I’ll go and be a robber fierce, 

And live in a dreary wood.” 

Then away I went from my mother’s home, 

To live in a dreary wood ; 



AND, IN THE SADDEST MANNER IN THE WORLD, SPOKE.” 


THE WILD-CAT ROSE 













* 








. 







BY THE CAMP FIRE. 


47 



And I gripped my pistol in my hand, 

And a mask tied on my face, 

And out I went, in a stormy night, 

To a black and gloomy place ! 

Oh, the thunder roared in that gloomy spot ! 

And the lightning flashed like fire, 

And the rain poured down and filled the stream, 
That higher rose and higher ! 


“ OH, MY MOTHER WEPT AS I WENT AWAY ! 


And a robber fierce I soon became, 
And never more was good. 


Oh, my mother wept as I went away, 

But never a tear wept I ; 

But I took my dagger between my teeth, 
And my sword slung on my thigh, 



WITH POLICEMEN HUNTING HIM THROUGH THE WOOD.” 

On, on, he came to my lurking-place ; 

With my pistol at his head, 

I made him deliver that parcel of liver, 

On which I greedily fed. 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


Down the dark path a spaniel came, 
With a parcel in his teeth. 

I cocked my pistol when I heard 
His foot-fall on the heath ! 



THEIR PARENTS FIERCE CAME BRISTLING HOME. 





















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BY THE CAMP FIRE. 


5 * 


Of my gentle mother then thought I, 

As she wept in her far-off home, 

To think that her son was a robber fierce, 

Who forever more must roam; 

With policemen hunting him through the wood, 
And sheriffs upon his trail, 

As, his life to save, he flees to a cave, 

Where he hides with terror pale ! 

I hunted me out a gloomy cave, 

To hide me from cats and men ; 

I crept within, and laid me down ; 

But, alas ! ’twas a fox’s den ! 

The small cub-foxes whined with fear 
When I laid me in their lair. 

Their parents fierce came bristling home. 

Oh, how their eyes did glare ! 

My bullet I sent to the vixen’s brain, 

My sword through the fox’s heart ; 

And I took his skin to wrap me in, 

And their bodies I dragged apart. 

And I dug two graves with my crimsoned sword, 
And buried in each a fox ; 

And I took their cave for my robber’s den, 

For my guns and my great strong box. 

Their cubs I fed, and bred them up, 

My robber’s band to be, 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


And for years and years, through blood and tears, 
We waded in merry glee [ 

My teeth grew long, my claws grew strong — 

A kitten no more was I, 

But a wild-cat fierce, with my gun in hand, 

And my sword slung on my thigh. 

My band at night went forth to rob ; 

In the morning back came they, 

With money and meat to lay at my feet, 

And fat I lived on the prey. 

The beasts of the forest fled from me, 

The timid birds took wing, 

The children trembled to hear my scream. 

Oh, I was a dreadful thing ! 

We sailed the sea, and ships robbed we 
That sailed the Spanish Main ; 

Then we landed and tore, with a horrible roar, 

The safe from a passenger train ! 

Then back to our gloomy cave went we 
With our treasures in bags and bales. 

“ Ha, ha ! ” laugh my men, and they greet me then 
As the chief who never fails. 

But think not, think not, gentle boy, 

That a happy cat was I, 

For oft from my eye the tear ran down, 

And often I heaved a sigh, 


B Y THE CAMP FIRE. 


53 


To think of the days in my mother’s home — 
The days when my heart was good — 

Ere I went to be a robber fierce, 

And live in a dreary wood ! 

In sleep the ghosts of my victims rose, 

My fevered eyes before; 

I saw with a shiver that parcel of liver ! 

I heard the torrent’s roar. 



“THEN BACK TO OUR GLOOMY CAVE WENT WE 
WITH OUR TREASURES IN BAGS AND BALES.” 

I could not, could not go forth to rob, 

I could not, could not steal ! 

So a mourning hermit I became. 

Oh, how sad, how sad I feel ! 





54 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


And still I dwell in my hermit’s cave, 

And mourn for my deeds of blood, 

When I went to be a robber fierce, 

And lived in a dreary wood, wood, wood, 

And lived in a dreary wood ! 

In reciting this ballad, Wild-Cat’s speaking was made 
more telling by several little things, the like of which Edgar 
had never seen before. When he spoke of the storm, all 
the camp fires suddenly went out, the lightning flashed above 
the treetops, and in the pauses between the stanzas the 
ravine was filled with echoing thunder. When he said, 
‘‘Oh, how their eyes did glare !” all the eyes of the Puk- 
wudjies shone like electric lights, and made the place quite 
as light as the camp fires had done. While he was describ- 
ing his dark deeds as a robber, all the Pukwudjies danced 
like jumping-jacks about the speaker, givingshrill little war- 
whoops, flourishing their tomahawks, and shooting flights 
of arrows into the surrounding darkness. As Wild-Cat 
ended his story they were sitting in a circle as at the begin- 
ning, all of them weeping, except such as were groaning, 
and one of Drifting Goose’s shining smoke-rings took its 
place just above Wild-Cat’s head, where it made as nice 
a halo as any one could ask. They all clapped their hands 
at the close, and Wild-Cat rose and bowed with his halo in 
his hand. 

“ Isn’t he a beautiful speaker?” whispered Young Fawn, 


BY THE CAMP FIRE. 


55 



Wild-Cat rose, took off his halo, bowed again and 
said : “ I will now recite a new selection, describing the 

o 


in Edgar’s ear. “ He’s the only one we have who can make 
the things actually happen, you know. If we encored him, 
he might speak another. Let’s do it ! ” And they all began 
clapping their hands and shouting “ Encore ! encore ! ” as 
loud as they could. 


“ WILDCAT ROSE AND BOWED, WITH HIS HALO IN HIS HAND.” 



56 


IN THE FAIR YLAND OF AMERICA. 


destruction of Pompeii, and the burial of the city and all 
its inhabitants in ashes and lava. It will also contain some 
earthquakes. Please look out for the hills. They will 
probably fall before the ravine is filled up with lava. I 
shall try to entertain you as long as any of you are left. 

Please ” But before he could beohn his declamation, 

every Pukwudjie was gone, and Edgar and Wild-Cat were 
sitting alone by the flickering camp fires, surrounded by the 
tepees of the deserted village. 

“ I certainly sha’n’t sleep a wink to-night,” said Wild-Cat. 


Gdgar Visits the professor 


57 

























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CHAPTER V. 


EDGAR VISITS THE PROFESSOR. 

For all that, he lay down on the grass and curled up, just 
as if he were about to take a nap. Edgar sat thinking over 
the curious things which had happened to him since he first 
saw Drifting Goose, and wondering what would happen 
next. At last he turned to speak to Wild-Cat, and found 
him sound asleep, with his nose poked between his paws. 
The halo leaned against the tree at his back. 

“ I mustn’t wake him,” said Edgar ; “ I do hope he’ll sleep 
off his insomnia.” 

“ Who ever said he had insomnia ? ” said a sharp voice at 
his side. He started, thinking that it was Young Fawn ; 
but he saw nothing which looked like a Pukwudjie, and at 
first he did not notice a screech-owl sitting on a stump 
close to him. 

As he looked about to see what had spoken, the voice 
said : “ Why are you staring about in that way ? And why 
don’t you answer questions ? ” 

“ How do you do, sir?” said Edgar. “ I did not see you 
at first. It is so dark, you know.” 

59 


6o 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


The screech-owl said nothing and sat perfectly still. 
Finally he said : “ So what ? ” 

“ Excuse me,” said Edgar, who had begun to think of 
something else. “ Did you speak ? ” 

The screech-owl looked sternly at him for a while, and 
finally said : “ I did speak. We will now go back to the 
beginning. I spoke to you about Wild-Cat’s insomnia. 
Do you remember that ?” 

“Yes.” 

“ Then you began staring about you in a most foolish 
manner. Do you remember that ? ” 

“ I remember looking around ; but ” 

“ Never mind the ‘but.’ Then you spoke to me, and, as 
I understood it, you said that you couldn’t see me for some 
reason. Am I right ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Edgar. “It is so dark here, you know, since 
the camp fires went out, that I had to look pretty sharp to 
see you at all.” 

The screech-owl again gazed at him for a long time in 
silence. At last he said : “ I desired, sir, to erma ore in seri- 
ous conversation with you. You meet me by making fun 
of me. I bid you good evening, sir.” 

“ I am just as serious as you are,” said Edgar; “and I 
haven’t made fun of you, and I don’t know what you are so 
angry about, /haven’t said anything rude, I’m sure.” 
Edgar began throwing some dry wood upon the embers of 


EDGAR VISITS THE PROFESSOR. 


61 


the camp fire. It blazed up, and showed Screech-Owl still 
sitting on the stump, blinking in the firelight. 

“ Am I to understand, then,” he said, “ that you are seri- 
ous in saying that you could not see me on account of the 
darkness ? ” 

“ Certainly,” said Edgar ; “ perfectly serious.” 

“ Could you see me better just now, when the fire blazed 
up ? ” 

“ Much better.” 

“ Most remarkable thing I ever heard of ! ” said Screech- 
Owl. “ A person who actually sees better in the light. 
When do you do your flying ?” 

“ I don’t really fly, you know,” said Edgar ; “ I walk 

about during the day.” 

“ It’s a very curious case,” said Screech-Owl. “ Needs 
light to see by, and walks about during the day. How do 
you catch mice for food ? ” 

“Mice!” said Ed^ar. “Mice, indeed! I don’t eat 
mice.” 

“ Doesn’t eat mice, walks about during the day, and 
can’t see in the dark! I must certainly report this case to 
the Professor.” 

There was another long silence on Screech-Owl’s part, 
during which Wild-Cat snored soundly. 

“ I am quite sure,” said Edgar, “ that he is sleeping off 
his insomnia nicely.” 


62 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


A couple of frogs came up out of the brook and strolled 
along the path, croaking to each other about the new basso 
who had come to live in the next pool. They took no 
notice of Edgar or Wild-Cat, but bowed very stiffly to 
Screech-Owl. They were then heard to plunge into the 
pool, and pretty soon their voices came out in a chorus of 
frogs which seemed to have been waiting for them. Two 
or three whip-poor-wills began calling from the treetops. 

“ I can’t endure this,” said Screech-Owl. “There ought 
to be some law to keep these people from making such a 
din. What music any one can hear in such noises I can’t 
imagine. Whip-poor-wills are bad enough ; but with a 
frogs’ choir rehearsal on one side and a whip-poor-will duet 
on the other, one is really driven crazy. Would you mind 
going down the brook out of hearing ? ” 

“ Not at all,” said Edgar. “ I should like the walk.” 

Screech-Owl flew down the path and disappeared. Soon 
he came back, saying, “ I forgot that you don’t fly very 
well. I came near losing you. Perhaps I’d better sit 
on your shoulder.” With that he perched upon Edgar’s 
shoulder, with his keen little beak close to the boy’s ear. 
His small claws were so sharp that they pricked through the 
clothes like pins, but Edgar said nothing about it for fear 
of offending him. “ I he people in the ravine are so easily 
put out,” thought he, “ that I’ll try to stand his claws, if he 
doesn’t pinch too hard.” 



EDGAR VISITS THE PROFESSOR. 63 

“ I suppose,” said Screech-Owl, “ that he has insomnia, 
perhaps ; but when one thinks very hard, one can’t help 
having it. I am sure I pass as many sleepless nights as 


“ HE PERCHED UPON EDGAR’S SHOULDER.” 


64 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


anyone. But I don’t complain. I just go out and labor. 1 
labor so industriously that mice are getting quite scarce 
in the ravine. You haven’t noticed any on the way, have 
you ? 

“ No,” said Edgar, “ I haven’t seen a person except those 
two frogs.” 

“ I hardly think it proper to refer to frogs as persons,” 
said Screech-Owl. “ Excuse me for mentioning it ; but 
we ought to be careful not to make mistakes about such 
things.” 

“ I’m quite a stranger in the ravine,” said Edgar, “ and 
you must not be surprised if I make some mistakes.” 

“ When in doubt, ask the Professor,” said Screech- 
Owl. , 

“ Where can I find him ?” said Edgar. 

o 

“ If you’ll just turn up the gully to the right,” said 
Screech-Owl, “ I’ll introduce you to him. The school- 
house is up there at the end. I’m taking you there. Or, 
rather, you’re taking me there. In fact we’re going there 
together. I can hardly make up my mind which of us is 
taking the other. I must ask the Professor.” 

As they went up the gully the darkness grew less, and 
when the end was reached it was almost as light as any 
shady spot in the ravine ought to be in the daytime. 
There was a sharp turn in the gully just at the end, and 
the walls were almost vertical. Edgar had often been there 


EDGAR VISITS THE PROFESSOR. 


65 



for ferns and flowers, and was very much surprised when 
Screech-Owl said that the schoolhouse was just ahead. 
He was still more astonished when they passed the turn 
and went into the school. 

T. here were trees and 
birds and blue sky over- 
head, and flowers and 
ferns underfoot. Sit- 
ting at his desk near 
the end wall was the 
Professor, holding his 
watch in his hand and 
loudly counting. There 
were a number of little 
Pukwudjie pappooses 
standing on their 
heads, with their little 
noses in the grass, and 
their toes against the 
wall. Nobody paid any 


Edgar. 

o 


A NUMBER OF LITTLE PUKWUDJIE PAPPOOSES 
STANDING ON THEIR HEADS.” 


attention to 
Screech-Owl left his 
shoulder and perched upon a root which grew down from 
the bank above, in a dark corner of the schoolroom. 

“ Fifty,” counted the Professor, “ fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty- 
three, fifty-four,” and finally “sixty! Time’s up!” and all 



66 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


the little brown pupils scrambled to their feet and took 
their seats on the grass in a circle about the desk. The 
Professor shut his watch with a snap. Screech-Owl held 
up one wing and snapped his beak. 

The Professor looked at Screech-Owl, saying, “ What is 
it, Screech-Owl ? ” 

“ I took the liberty,” said Screech-Owl, “ of bringing you, 
a visitor. This is Edgar. He is a stranger in the ravine; 
a friend of Wild-Cat.” f 

“ Oh, yes, certainly,” said the Professor. “ Bring him in. i 
I thought it was a tree. So tall, I didn’t see you.” Then- 
very soberly the little man held up his hand to Edgar’s, say- 
ing, “ The Wise One of the Pukwudjies, Meda, greets with 
gladness Edgar the Giant. O, Powerful One, let us be 
friends. Please don’t step on the pappooses. Take a seat 
on the stump.” 

“ He’s the most wonderful person you ever saw,” said 
Screech-Owl. “ He wants light to see by.” 

“ That is not strange,” said the Professor. “ So do the 
sheep.” 

“ But he doesn’t eat mice.” 

“ Neither do the doves nor the frogs.” 

“ He doesn’t fly, he says ; and he walks about during the 
day,” persisted Screech-Owl. 

“ That isn’t even odd,” said the Professor. “ 1 don’t fly 
myself, and a great many very respectable creatures walk 



“ meda’s school.” 
























































































EDGAR VISITS THE PROFESSOR . 


69 


about during the day. I never could teach that Screech-Owl 
any of the principles of Comparative Habitology. But I’m 
very glad he brought you in, for all that.” 

“You are very kind to say so, I am sure,” said Edgar, 
seating himself on the stump. Screech-Owl seemed very 
much put out because the Professor was so little surprised 
at Edgar’s strange traits. He sulkily retired farther and 
farther into the dark corner until he was out of sight. 









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Inversion and Lamentation 

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CHAPTER VI. 


INVERSION AND LAMENTATION. 

The Professor’s nose was loner and high and thin. His 

O D 

skin was copper-colored and very much wrinkled. He had 
no hair. His deerskin leggings and jacket were yellow. 
His pipe of red pipe-stone had carved upon it an owl’s head 
and a number of curious figures of which Edgar could not 
imagine the meaning. He carried a watch, which some- 
times dangled from a ring in his nose and sometimes was 
slipped into his pocket. A ball of mud had been stuck upon 
his right eyebrow and had dried there. He seemed very 
old and very wise. They sat for a long time in silence, 
during which none of the pappooses moved. At last the 
Professor said : 

“ We should be glad to hear any remarks which you may 
feel inclined to favor us with before the school is dismissed.” 

Edgar was puzzled to know what to do. He had no 
idea what was expected of him, but he was afraid of 
offending the Professor if he refused to speak. At last 
he said : “ I’ll speak a few verses my mamma reads to me 
sometimes — 


73 



“ Wait a moment,” said the Professor. “ We must spread 
this on the records.” And he handed to one of the pap- 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 

“ Hidden in the alder-bushes, 

There he waited till the deer came, 
Till he saw two antlers lifted, 

Saw two eyes look from the thicket, 
Saw two nostrils point to windward, 
And a deer came down the pathway, 
Flecked with leafy light and shadow.” 


“ THE PROFESSOR.” 


INVERSION AND LAMENTATION. 


75 


pooses a short stick peeled so as to look like a striped 
stick of candy. “ Please proceed.” 

Edgar could not remember any more of Hiawatha’s deer- 
shooting, except by going back to the beginning again, so 
he tried something else, saying : 

“ Not many years ago, where we now stand, the rank thistle 
nodded in the breeze and the wild fox dug his hole unscared.” 

“ Really, we must make a record of that,” said the Pro- 
fessor, handing another striped stick to a member of the 
school. Edgar bowed and sat down. 

“ One !” said the Professor, “ two ! three ! ” and the little 
Pukwudjies skipped down the gully like chipmunks and 
were out of sight in a breath. 

“ My advanced pupils are in school only on the third fair 
day after the first full moon in each month,” said the 
Professor. “ These are the primary pupils.” 

“ What are they studying ?” asked Edgar. 

“ They begin with Inversion, and when they have finished 
that they take up Lamentation,” replied the Professor. 

“I think I know what Inversion is,” said Edgar, “but I 
haven’t got to it yet. It’s where the book says ‘ Invert the 
divisor and multiply the numerators together for a new 
numerator and the denominators for a new denominator,’ 
isn’t it ? ” 

“Ugh!” said Drifting Goose. “ Paleface make very 
strong talk ! ” 


76 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


The great chief of the Pukwudjies was seated on the 
ground in the middle of the schoolroom. 

“ Let the speech of the paleface be spread upon the rec- 
ords/’ said the Professor, “ for his words are very wise and 
— and long.” And he handed one of the little striped 
sticks to Drifting Goose. The chief took it, shook his 
head gravely, and put it into his tobacco pouch. 

Edgar was so much interested in knowing what the pap- 
pooses were studying, that he felt no surprise at the sudden 
appearance of Drifting Goose. 

“ Is that what you mean by Inversion ?” he asked. 

“ Not quite,” said the Professor. “ Did you never study 
Inversion when you were young ?” 

“No," said Edgar, “never. Will you please explain it 
to me ? ” 

“ Every wise teacher,” said the Professor, “when a pupil 
comes to him, begins by making the pupil unlearn a great 
deal. Some think it enough to cause the student to forget 
all that the last master taught. The Wise-0 ne-with-the- 
Mud-on-His-Eyebrow is more thorough. He requires his 
pupils to forget all that they have ever learned. Now what 
have the pappooses of this ravine learned when they come 
to school ? ” 

“ I am sure I don’t know,” said Edgar. 

“When one of them is three days old,” the Professor went 
on, “ it is strapped with its back on a board, and is hung up 


INVERSION AND LAMENTATION. 


77 



on the lodge pole or leaned against the tepee when not 
carried in its mothers arms. It learns to stand at all times 
with its head up and its feet 
down. This is all wrong. Can- 
not flies and birds and squirrels 
walk with their heads downward? 

And why not Pukwudjies ? ” 

“ I can hang by my feet for a 
little while,” said Edgar, “ but it 
makes my face so red ! ” 

“ All the better for that,” 
said Young Fawn, who had 
come in. “ Most of our best 
people here paint their faces 
red. And their faces are quite 
red without any paint.” 

i( But it makes my head jump,” 
said Edgar, “ if I hang too long.” 

“ I know a great many people 
whose whole bodies jump, and 
they don’t complain,” said Wild- 
Cat, sitting down by Drifting “ it is strapped with its back 

_ ON A BOARD.” 

Goose. 

“ But hanging head downward makes one’s head throb 
and ache,” said Edgar. 

“ That’s because you haven’t been properly taught,” said 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


78 

the Professor. “You were left standing about the tepee 
head up and strapped to a board ” 

“ No, I was not ! ” said Edgar. “ My mamma wouldn’t 
do such a thing.” 

“ How careless of her ! ” said Young Fawn. “ You might 
have died.” 

“Nonsense!” said the Professor. “ Anyhow, you were 
not hung head down, were you now ?” 

“ No,” said Edgar, “ of course not ! ” 

“ I thought not, I thought not,” said the Professor. 
“ Mothers are just the same everywhere. Why, I have 
gone about the village many a time turning the pappooses’ 
heads down on their boards, and pinching them until they 
cried, and what do you suppose their mothers do ? ” 

“ They ought to make you run the gantlet,” said Young 
Pawn. 

“ They always turn the babies back again and soothe 
them until they stop crying. I can’t make them see that I 
must know more about babies than they do. So, you see, 
as soon as the pupils come to my school I am obliged to 
make them stand on their heads until they have unlearned 
what their mothers have taught them.” 

“ Oh, I see,” said Edgar. “ When I came in, the schol- 
ars were reciting their Inversion lesson. But why do you 
pinch the little pappooses to make them cry ? ” 

“ Their mothers teach them not to cry,” said the Pro- 


IN VERSION AND LAMENTATION. 


79 



fessor. “ Now the air is not fit for breathing unless a cer- 

c> 

tain amount of weeping is done in it. Where is all the rain 
to come from if no one cries, I should like to know ? ” 

“ I do my share, I’m sure,” said Wild-Cat sadly. 


*’ HE TOOK EDGAR BY THE ARM.” 

“ And crying is necessary for the proper growth of the 
lungs,” went on the Professor. “ So I find it necessary to 
have the pappooses unlearn what they are taught by their 
mothers as to crying. I give prizes to the pupil who can 
weep longest, loudest and most bitterly.” 


8o 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“ And you won’t let me compete,” said Wild-Cat, still 
more sadly. “ I could take every prize, and you know it, 
Professor.” 

“ When you go past the school and hear a great deal of 
sobbing and crying, you will know that the Lamentation 
class is reciting.” 

“ I never heard of any such thing before,” said Edgar. 
“ I supposed that the Lamentation class must be studying 
the Book of Lamentations in the Bible.” 

“ No,” said Meda. “ Our course only takes in the Oral 
Lamentation. Written Lamentation will come in the Uni- 
versity course, if we can ever get it started.” 

“I propose,” said Wild-Cat, “that we return to the 
village. Come on, Paleface.” And he took Edgar by 
the arm, escorting him down the gully toward the brook. 
The others all followed in single file. Even Screech-Owl 
came out of his dark hole and flew silently from tree to tree 
toward the village. 


CCKld-Cat Gxplains 


I II"' 1 *i • 






































































* 







































































CHAPTER VII. 


WILD-CAT EXPLAINS. 

“How do you like it as far as you’ve got?” asked 
Wild-Cat of Edgar as they walked toward the village. 
“ These ravine people, I mean.” 

“ They are very nice, I am sure,” said Edgar. “ But there 
are some things I don’t understand at all. Perhaps you 
can explain them to me.” 

“ Glad to do anything I can, I assure you. What puz- 
zles you ? ” 

u Oh, a number of things,” said Edgar. “ For one thing, 
how do you make the things really happen when you make 
a speech ? ” 

“ It’s the power of mind over matter,” answered Wild-Cat. 

“ But / can’t do it,” said Edgar. 

“ That’s because you don’t get the proportions right,” 
said Wild-Cat — “the proportions of mind and matter, 
you know,” he explained, seeing that Edgar looked 
puzzled. “ Most people try to get along with too little 
mind to the ton of matter. But they never make anything 

83 


8 4 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


happen. You mustn’t be stingy about putting in mind if 
you expect to go into the event business. Understand it 
now ? ” 

“ A little,” said Edgar. “ It’s not very easy, is it ?” 

“ Not very easy to do,” said Wild-Cat, “ but awfully 
simple to understand. Now, you know what volts are, don’t 
you ?” 

“ They’re something in electric batteries, aren’t they ? ” 
said Edgar. 

“Yes,” said Wild-Cat; “and ohms and amperes and 
watts are other things like ’em. Isn’t that plain ? ” 

“ I suppose it is,” said Edgar, though as a matter of fact 
he could make no sense of anything Wild-Cat was saying. 
But that worthy hermit proceeded : 

“Well, suppose you are going to speak ‘The Village 
Blacksmith,’ what things have you got to make occur?” 

‘‘ Why, you must have the spreading chestnut tree, and 
the village smithy, and the blacksmith, and the swinging of 
‘ his heavy sledge with measured beat and slow,’ at least,” 
said Edgar, rather proud of his knowledge. 

‘‘ Certainly you must,” said Wild-Cat. “ You must make 
them happen, and also the children looking in at the open 
door, and the bellows, and the ‘burning sparks that fly like 
chaff from a threshing-floor.’ And if you’re not careful 
they’ll set fire to the schoolhouse.” 

“ And then the janitor would turn in a fire alarm,” said 


THE WILD-CAT EXPLAINS. 


85 


Edgar, “ the teacher would march us all out, the fire engines 
would come to put out the fire, and we’d have a vacation 
until a new schoolhouse could be built.” 

“ Don’t interrupt,” said Wild-Cat. “ We are supposing 
that you are about to speak 4 The Village Blacksmith ’ in 
such a way as to make the things happen as you speak. 
You have to make a smithy, a tree, a crowd of children, 
and all those things. How do you make ’em ? By mind- 
power. You turn on so many volts, or ohms, or watts of 
mind, and you’ve got ’em. Isn’t it simple ? ” 

“ It sounds simple,” said Edgar. 

“ After you learn more about these things you’ll under- 
stand better the meaning of the expressions ‘ Watts the 
matter ’ and ‘ Watts on the mind.’ ” 

“It must be very hard work,” said Edgar. 

“ It is,” said Wild-Cat. “Sometimes I think it’s the 
memory of my life as a robber that brings on my insomnia ; 
and then again I think it is the mind-power I use up in 
public speaking. Oh, my dear boy, my dear boy, it’s a 
terrible thing to be great ! — especially to be so great that it 
keeps you awake nights.” And Wild-Cat wept a large tear 
from each eye. 

“ I noticed,” said Edgar, changing the subject, “ that the 
frogs don’t seem to be very friendly with Screech-Owl. 
Do you know why ? ” 

“Well,” replied Wild-Cat, “Screech-Owl is a perfect 


86 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


simpleton. But that isn’t the reason, for the frogs are just 
as silly — that isn’t the reason. It grows out of that Lord 
Frog marriage, you remember.” 

“How?” 

'‘Why, don’t you remember how ‘Lord Frog he would 
a-wooing go.’ He married Miss Mouse, you know, and 
the fro^s claim that the mice are relatives of theirs. And 
Screech-Owl has, in its very worst form, the habit of eating 
mice. So the frogs are pretty cool toward Screech- 
Owl. You’d feel that way yourself, I’ll wager, in their 
place.” 

“ I don’t blame the frogs a bit,” replied Edgar. 
“ Another thing I should like to know is, why does the 
Professor wear that lump of mud over his eye ?” 

“Oh, he calls that his ‘ medicine.’ He thinks it helps 
him to cure his patients and keeps off evil spirits. It’s a 
mere superstition.” 

“ The mud is ? ” 

“ No, the idea is. Don’t you know what a superstition 
is?” asked Wild-Cat. “A superstition is a foolish notion 
which some one else believes in. Rabbits are very supersti- 
tious. They think it unlucky to go along the paths in the 
ravine whenever I have a fit of insomnia.” 

“ I think the Professor must be very wise, even if he 
is a little superstitious,” said Edgar. “ I should like to 
ask another question about him. Why does he say some- 


THE WILD-CAT EXPLAINS. 


87 


times 1 We must make a record of this/ and at the same 
time give a little peeled stick to some one ?.” 

“Oh, don’t you know about that?” exclaimed Wild-Cat. 
“ Here, Professor, the Chief of the Palefaces wants to know 
about the Pukwudjie memory sticks. Can’t you explain the 
matter ? ” 

“ They are made,” said the Professor, coming up, “ by 
cutting plum twigs, and peeling therefrom spiral or circular 
strips of the outer bark.” 

“Thank you,” said Edgar. “But what are they given 
for?” 

“ I see,” said the Professor ; “ in your country it must be 
that there is no such thing as history. Let me illustrate 
by calling one of my pupils. Come here, Leaping Mouse ! ” 

They had reached the village, and a pappoose, who had 
received one of the memory sticks while Edgar was speak- 
ing to the school, came at the call. To him the Professor 
said : “ The Leaping Mouse will open the wisdom of the 
paleface giant.” 

The Leaping Mouse took from his pouch the little mem- 
ory stick and said : “ Nutmegs are generally low where we 
now stand. The rank thistle nodded to the geese, and the 
wild fox dug his hole unscared.” 

“ The memory stick is given as a token that the person 
receiving it must remember what is said. That is how we 
spread things on the records,” explained the Professor. 


88 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“ Many years hence, if the paleface giant returns to this 
village he will find Leaping Mouse ready to tell him the 
story of the fox’s hole, and his brother to repeat the tale 
of Hiawatha’s hunting.” 

“ See this ?” said Young Fawn, showing a memory stick 
which she had gone into the tepee to get. 

“ Yes,” said Wild-Cat. “ What is it ? ” 

“ It is the memory stick which records the story of Pearl 

Hair,” said Young 
Fawn. “It is a 
tale of Iagoo, the 
Story Teller, and 
was given me with 
this stick when I 
was only twice as 
high as a mush- 
room.” 

“Will you 
please, tell it ? ” 

“ With pleasure,” said Young Fawn. They all sat down, 
and the belle of the Pukwudjies told the tale which I shall 
put in the next chapter. 



" IT IS THE MEMORY STICK WHICH RECORDS THE STORY 
OF PEARL HAIR.” 


Cbe Legend of pearl fiair 

























CHAPTER VIII. 


THE LEGEND OF PEARL HAIR. 

“ In the time of the Strong Ones there was a little girl who 
was called Pearl Hair because of the pearliness of her hair. 
She belonged to the family of the Winds. I believe that 
Shawandasee, the South Wind, was her father ; and that 
she was the cousin of Hiawatha. All the Winds loved her. 
Either Mudjekeewis, the West Wind, or Keewaydin, the 
Northwest Wind, was almost always to be found following 
her when she went out strolling over the rivers and forests. 

“If you remember what great things were done by the 
Strong Ones in those days, you will not feel at all surprised 
when I speak of a little girl walking over rivers and forests. 
The daughter of the South Wind and the cousin of Hiawatha 
could do mightier things than that. 

“ Her hair looked like spun mother-of-pearl. It lay in 
great waves and puffs all over her head, and glittered like a 
rainbow in the sunlight. In the shadows between the waves 
it was blue, like a dove’s wing, and in the night it was dark. 
She loved the sunlight and the warmth of summer. All the 
trees and flowers knew her. When she walked abroad on 


91 


92 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


summer afternoons the night-hawks and swallows skimmed 
about her head. There was only one animal of which she 
was afraid, the bear. You remember the father of Hiawatha, 
Mudjekeewis, her uncle, killed Mishe-Mokwa, the great 
bear, and so the families were not on very good terms. 

“One hot afternoon in July Pearl Hair went walking. 
Shawandasee started with her, and Keewaydin followed 
after, but they both dropped asleep and she moved on alone. 
The sun shone warm, and made rainbows of the pearly snow- 
drifts of her hair. All her friends, especially the trees and 
flowers, were glad to see her. For a long time a flock of 
cranes sailed in circles before her face, talking to her in their 
queer way about their life on the prairies. 

“ 4 Per-r-r-r-r-t,’ one would say, meaning, * We had such 
fun dancing on the burnt prairie last spring !’ 

“ 4 Per-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-t,’ another would remark, which meant, 

4 And we’ve had no trouble this year in finding all the frogs 
and sweet little striped snakes we could eat.’ Then they 
would all slowly say, as they floated without moving a wing, 

4 Per-r-r-t .... Per-r-r-t,’ by which they meant ‘ How good 
the times are this season ! ’ They were only sand-hill 
cranes, who always think times are good when there are 
plenty of frogs and snakes. The whooping cranes are 
harder to please, I am told. 

“ The cranes at last sailed away toward their home. The 
sun grew hotter, and little Pearl Hair felt that the waves of 





THE CRANES SAILED AWAY TOWARD THEIR HOME. 


. 





















































































* 








I 









. 


















































. 

» 
























THE LEGEND OF PEARL HAIR. 


95 


her shining locks were puffing up higher and higher. They 
often did that of a hot day. An osprey caught a fish in a 
lake so far away that she could see only a splash as he dived 
after it. Soon he came toward her screaming, chased by a 
naughty eagle who kept telling him to drop the fish. Little 
Pearl Hair felt like boxing the eagle’s ears. He was always 
robbing the osprey in that way. The osprey could not 
carry the fish and fly fast enough to keep out of the eagle’s 
way, and was forced to drop his dinner. The eagle caught 
it, and, seeing that this had happened almost under little 
Pearl Hair’s nose, he sneaked away ashamed to his nest. 

“ Then she noticed that a night-hawk was flying about near 
her, in the crazy manner of such birds. He would scream 
‘ Kaie ! . . . . Kaie ! . . . . Kaie ! . . . . Kaie ! . . . . 
Kaie ! ’ and every time he said ‘Kaie’ he flirted himself 
higher in the air. Whenever he had worked himself up to 
a point as high as either cranes or osprey had been, he would 
suddenly turn head downward and dart like an arrow toward 
the earth, as if he were determined to dash himself to pieces, 
making a loud humming noise, somehow, as he fell. Just 
in time to save himself from striking the ground, he would 
turn and begin flirting himself upward again, screaming 
‘Kaie!’ at the top of his voice. Little Pearl Hair was 
much amused by him, but whether or not she knew why he 
behaved so, or how he made that queer humming noise, I 
am sure I cannot say. Do you know ? 


9 6 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“ At last it came into her mind that night-hawks fly mostly 
in the evening and that it was time for her to be going home. 
The sun was still making rainbows in her hair, but at her 
feet was shadow. She thought of the bears and trembled ; 
for she was far from home, she could not remember her way, 
and the sun was setting. The sun dropped out of sight in 
the west. Away in the mountains she could hear the bears 
growling to one another that it was time to go out after their 
prey. 

“ She was very much frightened. ‘ Shawandasee ! ’ she 
called. ‘ Keewaydin ! ’ But neither of her companions 
came or answered. She began to weep. Her tears pattered 
on the flowers and trees below. She asked the flowers to 
help her, but they were all asleep — all but the Four-o’- 
clocks. 

“The Four-o’-clocks said: ‘Our feet are fast to the soil. 
We cannot come.’ 

“ She asked Night-Hawk, but he said nothing but ‘ Kaie ! 
. . . . Kaie ! ’ flirting himself higher than ever, and then 
diving down again. 

She said to the owl : ‘Will you not help me or send me 
help ? ’ But the owl answered, ‘ Who ? Who ? Who? ’ as if 
he did not understand. 

“ The cranes, the eagle and the osprey had gone to rest. 
The growls of the bears sounded nearer and nearer. Poor 
little Pearl Hair ! All her friends asleep or absent, and her 



1'HE OSPREY .... WAS FORCED TO DROP HIS DINNER 






























































































- 












THE LEGEND OF PEARL HAIR. 


99 


enemies approaching! No wonder her tears fell in 
showers. 

“ At last she saw Firefly sending out his little spark from 
beneath her. ‘ Oh, Firefly ! * said little Pearl Hair, ‘ I am 
all alone. The bears are coming. Can you help me ? ’ 

“ ‘ I am little,’ said Firefly, ‘ but I will do the best I 
can.’ 

“ And he called together all the fireflies. As soon as they 
were all met, the chief of the fireflies said : 

“ ‘ There is a thing of which the bears are afraid, and that 
is fire. Let us go and by fire frighten away the bears from 
little Pearl Hair.’ 

“ So all the fireflies flew to little Pearl Hair and alighted 
upon her shoulders, her neck, and especially in her hair. 

‘ Do not be afraid,’ said they ; ‘the bears are cowards. We 
will frighten them away.’ 

“ ‘ Oh, thank you ! ’ said she, ‘ but are you sure ? ’ 

“ ‘ Wait and see,’ said the fireflies. So the maiden 
waited, trembling and weeping. At last she saw before her 
the fiery eyes of the bears. They were rushing on to tear 
her, when all at once the fireflies flashed forth their fires, 
filling her hair with flame, and lighting it up like bright 
sunlight. 

“‘It is day!’ roared the bears, and ran back, scared, 
toward their dens. Their voices echoed from hill to hill 
and rolled down the valleys. When the echoes died away, 


L. of 0. 


IOO 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


the sobs of little Pearl Hair, like gusts of wind, could be 
heard, while her tears still pattered on the ground. Then 
the fierce bears, seeing that the darkness had returned, came 
snuffing back to seize their prey. Again the fireflies 
lighted up their fires, making the little girl’s tresses to 



“ THEY WERE RUSHING ON TO TEAR HER.” 


shine like pearl, and at each flash the savage bears shrank 
back growling and roaring to their lairs. 

“ The South Wind, Shawanda see, saw from a distance 
the shining of the fireflies, heard the growling of the bears, 
and ran to help his daughter. But Keewaydin, the North 
Wind, was there before him. The bears heard the roarino- of 


THE LEGEND OF PEARL HAIR. 


IOI 


his breath and the trampling of his feet as he rushed through 
the forests. They ran whimpering into their dens, and dared 
not again come forth. Keewaydin took little Pearl Hair in 
his arms and carried her safely to her home. 

“These things happened long, long, long ago, in the time 
of the Strong Ones. But if you wish to see the same thing, 
you must watch the western horizon during the hot summer 
afternoons. Some day you will see a white cloud, all puffs 
and waves, shining like pearl in the western sky. That 
is the head of little Pearl Hair. It will grow higher and 
higher. You will see the birds flying across it. You will 
see the shadows in it, blue like a dove’s wing. 

“ When the sun sets you will hear the growling of the 
bears. That is the thunder. You will see the flashing of 
the fireflies as they scare the beasts away. That is the 
lightning. You will feel the tear-drops of the lost and 
frightened maiden. That is the shower. And at last you 
will hear the rush and feel the breath of the wind which 
bears the clouds away.” 

















. 

-t 








- 


' 































’ 




























H Lecture on Baldness 

















































. 
































■ 

I 







CHAPTER IX. 


A LECTURE ON BALDNESS. 

Young Fawn, while repeating the story of little Pearl 
Hair, held the memory stick in her hand, as if it were a book 
from which she was read in or. 

o 

“ Is that all ? ” asked Edgar. 

“ It is all,” said Young Fawn, looking proudly at the 
memory stick. “ It is the only real Iagoo in the ravine,” 
she added, putting it into her pocket. 

“ It is a very fine story,” said Screech-Owl. “ The Owls 
who said ‘Who? Who?’ to little Pearl Hair were not 
Screech-Owls, or they wouldn’t have been so stupid. They 
were those clumsy Horned-Owls.” 

Nobody paid any attention to what Screech-Owl said. 
All the Pukwudjies seemed to have come back to the 
village as soon as the fear of earthquakes and lava was past. 
Edgar was thinking of Young Fawn’s story and of Pearl Hair. 

“ I know a girl named Pearl Smith,” said he, “ and a boy 
named John Haire. Now, if they grow up and marry, her 
name will be Pearl Haire. But it won’t be polite to call 
her by that name, and I suppose I shall have to call her 
Mrs. Haire. So it isn’t worth bothering with.” 

IO S 


106 IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 

tl The paleface says well,” said Drifting Goose. 

“She must have had an Indian name of some kind,” 
Edgar went on ; “and as Pearl F'eather’s Indian name was 
‘ Megissogwon,’ I suppose hers must be either ‘ Megis-some- 
thing’ or ‘ Something-Sogwon.’ Don’t you think so?” 
asked he of the Professor. 

“I do not doubt that some such thing might or might 
not have been,” said the Professor. 

There was a long silence, during which Drifting Goose 
smoked, and Edgar tried to think out the Professor’s 
meaning. 

“ She must have been a very stupid person,” said the 
Professor. 

“ Who ? ” asked Edgar. 

“ Pearl Hair,” answered the Professor. 

“ Why?” asked Young Fawn. 

“ With all that mop of hair, to be sure,” said the Professor, 
who was perfectly bald. “ How could she be anything 
else ? ” 

“As to ‘ mops of hair’ I haven’t a word to say,” said 
Wild-Cat, “ but as a citizen of this ravine, sir, who is covered 
with hair, sir, to a degree, I demand, sir, that you explain 
the words which you have used, sir, by which you seem to 
hint that to have hair is to be foolish ! ” 

As Wild-Cat said this he looked very fiercely at the 
Professor, digging his long nails into the ground at the same 





4 4 


THE WILD-CAT DEMANDS AN EXPLANATION 







A LECTURE ON BALDNESS. 


109 


time. He appeared angry, indeed, but the Professor did 
not seem at all frightened. 

s< Very glad to explain — very glad indeed,” replied he. 
“ It’s a beautiful theory. Worked it all out myself. Just 

finished it. I’m going to call it ‘ Meda’s Theory of Bald- 
) )) 

ness. 

u None of our family ever had it,” said Screech-Owl, 
but nobody noticed him. All were gathered about Meda, 
the Professor, who stood upon the bare trodden earth in 
front of the tepee. He began cutting some rather large 
figures in the firm, smooth earth, using the point of his little 
hunting knife. Edgar knelt down so as not to obstruct the 
view of those back of him. Leaping Mouse squatted near 
Meda, and drew little figures in the earth with an arrow- 
point, and explained them to the other pappooses. The 
wild-cat glared fiercely at Meda, but winked once or twice 
at Edgar while the Professor was not looking. The first 



Figure i. 


iio 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“ Now,” said Meda, “look at Figure i, which shows the 
human scalp as it exists on the heads of most people, some- 
what magnified.” 

“ But are most people somewhat magnified ? ” asked 
Screech-Owl, who was sitting on Edgars shoulder again. 

o o O 

“ A is the scalp itself ; b, b, b, b, b, b, are hairs, and c, c, c, 
c, c, c are little sockets in which the hairs are set. Isn’t 
that plain ? ” 

“Go on,” said Wild-Cat. “We’ll see how plain it is 
when you are through.” 

“ I understand it perfectly,” said Edgar. 

“/think it would be much plainer if you say ‘dignified’ 
instead of ‘ magnified,’ ” said Screech-Owl. 

“You observe,” went on the Professor, “that each hair 
is bulged out like a wild onion at the root. This bulb is 
a sort of knob which keeps it in place. Will some one 
please oblige me with a hair, so that we may all see the 
knobbed root ?” 

No one offered the hair. Meda finally said to Edgar : 

“May I have one of your hairs, if I agree to pull it with- 
out your feeling it ? ” 

“If you are sure it won’t hurt,” said Edgar. 

‘‘ I give you my word that you won’t feel it in the least. 
Please bend down your head.” 

Edgar bent his head. Meda carefully selected a hair, 
and jerked it out with one hand, at the same time sharply 


A LECTURE ON BALDNESS. m 

thumping the spot where it grew with the knuckles of the 
other. 

“ Oh !” cried Edgar. “ That hurts ! Stop ! ” 

“ I have quite finished,” said Meda. “ Did you feel it?” 

“It hurt dreadfully,” said Edgar, rubbing his head. 

“ Pulling the hair — did you feel that?” 

“ No-o,” said Edgar, “ but that was because the other 
hurt was so bad ” 

“ Oh, pshaw,” interrupted Wild-Cat, “ one explanation at 
a time is enough. I call the gentleman to order.” 

“ The gentleman from, from ,” said Drifting Goose, try- 

ing to think just where Edgar was from. “ The gentleman 
from The-Big-Tepee-with-Corners will please come to order.” 

“ You all notice,” went on Meda, holding Edgars hair up 
for them to see, “ that this hair is shaped at the end which 
was set in the scalp as shown in the figure. Well, all hairs 
are so shaped. If you doubt it, we will examine some more 
hairs.” 

Nobody seemed to doubt it, so Meda went on : 

“We must now take up the subject of brains. Brains 
are things to think with. They are composed of white 
matter and gray matter.” 

“ Then,” said Screech-Owl, “ I suppose that white owls 
have brains of white matter, and gray owls have the other 
kind.” Nobody paid any attention to him, and the poor 
little fellow began mournfully wailing in Edgar’s ear. 


I 12 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


“ Why does no one notice me ?” at the same time pricking 
his claws into the shoulder on which he sat, so that the 
little boy found it very hard to pay attention to Meda’s lec- 
ture on brains. At last he heard him saying : 

“ Skulls are boxes made to hold brains. Now, the skull 
fits over the brain, and the scalp over the skull. They all 
grow at once while we are young, and all stop growing at 
the same time. The brains of most grown-up people always 
fit their skulls, because such persons forget as many things 
as they learn, and so their brains do not grow. But some- 
times a person is found who learns a great many things, and 
remembers them, and who thinks a great deal, so that his 
brain has to grow to hold his wisdom. This presses the 
skull outward and stretches the scalp. You can easily see 
that this must cause the little sockets of the hairs to stretch 
so as to loosen the hairs. I can make this plainer by another 
figure.” And Meda drew on the ground: 



0 


Figure 2. 


“This,” said Meda, “shows the scalp of a moderately 


A LECTURE ON BALDNESS. 


i3 


wise person. A is the skin stretched thinner than in Figure 
1 ; B, B, B, are hairs far apart, on account of the wisdom- 
stretched scalp ; C is a hair just losing its hold and falling 
out. In a very wise person all the hair falls out, as you 
may have noticed. The scalp is stretched so that it shines. 
1 he sockets for the hairs disappear. When such a person 
is found, you should be very careful to pay attention to what 
he says.” 

All the Pukwudjies looked at Meda’s shining bald head 
with great respect. 

“Does the brain ever get smaller?” asked Edgar, who 
had forgotten about the thump on his head. 

“ Sometimes,” said Meda, “ but it is a very bad thing when 
it does. It shows that the person in whose skull it happens 
to be is growing foolish instead of wise. In such cases the 
scalp shrinks, the hairs are closer together, sometimes so 
thick that they have to stand up. You will notice such 
people playing football and such things. It is very sad. 
Let us change the subject.” 

“ I’m tired of this,” said Young Fawn. “ Let’s play 
something else.” 





‘ 





































Dinners, JVIeetings and Rules 




























































' 

















































, 

















CHAPTER X. 


DINNERS, MEETINGS AND RULES. 

Edgar watched Leaping Mouse as he squatted, scratching 
little figures in the earth with an arrow-head. Young - Fawn 
had just said, “ Let us play something else,” and Edgar 
looked up to see what they would do next. All were gone ! 
Only Screech-Owl was left, still perched on the little boy’s 
shoulder, and Leaping Mouse digging in the earth. 

“ Didn’t you hear them say, ‘ Let us play something else ? ’ ” 
said Screech-Owl. “ Why don’t you do it ? Why doesn’t 
some one pay any attention to me or any one ! O-o-o-h ! 
o-o-o-oh ! ” 

“ I don’t know what they play here,” said Edgar. “For 
pity’s sake, don’t stick your claws in so ! What shall I do 
with this owl, Leaping Mouse ; it is snapping its bill in my 
ear, and pricking my shoulder dreadfully!” 

** Squeak, squeak ! ” said Leaping Mouse, and before Edgar 
could have counted three he was scampering away in the 
form of a mouse, pursued by Screech-Owl. The little 
owl would dart swiftly at the mouse, but somehow it always 
just missed catching him, and they went out of sight among 

ii 7 


n8 IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 

the trees, the owl still pursuing, the mouse still scampering 
away. 



“ HE WAS SCAMPERING AWAY IN THE FORM OF A MOUSE.” 

“ I do hope Screech-Owl won’t catch him,” thought 
Edgar. “ He is a leaping mouse now, sure enough. How 
queer everything is down here ! But, after all, most of it 



DINNERS, MEETINGS AND RULES. 






119 

is fun. I wonder if the boys at school will believe all 
this. That silly owl ought to know it isn’t a real mouse ! 
I never saw such a foolish owl in my life. I don’t wonder 
that the frogs don’t think it worth while to associate with 
them.” 

He was all alone again. The Pukwudjies, with their animal 
friends, were nowhere to be seen. The ravine was as quiet as 
if these little folks had never entered it. He could hear the 
cattle lowing in the pasture just beyond the edge of the wood. 
Half a mile further was his home, and in it were his mother 
and Annabel, but he never thought to wonder whether they 
would be anxious about him. He wanted to find Drifting 
Goose and Wild-Cat again. As they did not return, he 
beean looking for them in the various dark nooks and 
grassy plots along the stream. He saw no one until, coming 
to a green glade in a bend of the stream, he saw a large 
froe sitting alone at a table. There were dishes and food 
before him, and he occasionally nibbled at some of the 
victuals, but did not seem at all hungry. 

“ How do you do ?” said Edgar. 

“Very well, I thank you,” said the frog. “ I hope I see 
you well ? ” 

“ Quite well, thank you.” 

The frog had a black oil-cloth portfolio slung over his 
shoulder by a cord and swinging at his side. Out of this 
he took a large book, with the title “ Rules of Etiquette ” 




120 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


in big letters on its cover, and opened it before him on the 
table. He began leafing it over, as if anxiously searching 
for something, turning first to the back of the book, then 
to the beginning, then running over the pages in the 
middle. 

At last he said : “ I can’t ask you to sit down with me. 
I don’t know the rule. I can’t find it. I’ve looked under 
G for giant and guest, and there isn’t a thing about guests, 
inviting giants to sit down at table. There isn’t a word 
about giants. Do you know the rule? ” 

“ No,” said Edgar. “ Maybe it is in the next higher 
book. I should ask Meda about it. But who is the guest ? ” 
“ I am ; and you don’t know how anxious I am to get 
away. I promised my wife that I’d be back three weeks 
ago. All that time I’ve sat at this table trying to find 
some rule which would allow me to go home. But I am 
sure, now, that there is none.” 

“But, if you are all alone, how can you be a guest?” 
asked Edgar. “ I don’t understand.” 

“ This is the way of it,” said the frog. “ I am a member 
of the Lily-pad Nocturnal Choral Society. Some of our 
members were invited to a dinner here three weeks ago, 
and when it was almost over, a messenger came and took all 
but me to a special business meeting. They are to come 
back for the dessert. I think something must have de- 
layed them, don’t you?” 





HE SAW A LARGE FROG SITTING ALONE AT A TABLE. 



















. 




















































DINNERS, MEETINGS AND RULES. 123 

“Yes,” said Edgar. “I see now that you’re a guest. 
But why don’t you go home ?” 

“ Rule 18,” said the frog, tapping his book. “ It says : ‘ One 
should never leave table without asking permission of the 
hostess.’ Hostess has been away three weeks. Can’t get 
excused until she comes back. Three weeks is a very long 
time to sit at table ! Would you mind telling some of our 
people about it, if you see any of them ?” 

“ I’ll go and find some of them,” said Edgar. “Where 
shall I look ?” 

“ In the pool, if you please. If you see the hostess tell 
her I am very anxious to be excused. . . . I’m really not 
at all hungry any more. ... I shall not care for any of the 
dessert ! ” 

These last words he shouted to Edgar, who was already 
on his way to the pool. He remembered the place from 
having seen the frogs going to it when they had looked so 
coldly upon Screech-Owl. As he came nearer he could 
hear a great croaking and trilling of large and small frogs. 
There were so many of them trying to talk at the same time 
that at first he thought they must be angry with one 
another. A big green bull-frog with a gavel in his hand 
was sitting on a stone in the pool, and seemed to be acting 
as president of the meeting. The others were grouped 
about him on lily-pads, tussocks and stones. All seemed 
very much excited. Edgar could understand very little they 


124 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


said, but he could see that the secretary, who sat at the 
president’s right hand, was busily engaged, like the poor 
frog at the dinner-table, looking through a book, only this 
book had the words “Rules of Order” on its cover. 
Wild-Cat was behind a tree, peeping slyly at the frogs, and 
laughing until the tears rolled down his face. He beckoned 
Edgar to join him behind the tree. 

“ IVe pretty near died a-laughing,” he said. 

“ At what ? ” asked Edgar. 

“ Don’t you see?” he returned. “ Here’s a frog singing 
society. Three weeks trying to adjourn. Think they can’t 
do it. I’m beginning to doubt if they ever will leave off.” 

“ But why doesn’t some one say, ‘ Mr. President, I move 
that we adjourn.’ Then all can vote ‘ Aye,’ and go home.” 

“ Great idea ! ” said Wild-Cat. “ But let’s go down and 
see what they say about it.” 

So Edgar and Wild-Cat walked side by side down to 
the pond where the frogs sat croaking and bellowing like 
mad. 

“ I move that we reconsider ” shouted one. “ I move 

that the rules be amended so as to ” interrupted another. 

And to every motion the president replied by rapping 
with the gavel and croaking “ Out of order ! Out of 
order!” And so it went on until Wild-Cat said to the 
secretary, “Tell this young gentleman what the trouble 
is here.” 


DINNERS , MEETINGS AND RULES. 


I2 5 


“We had better step aside out of this hubbub, ” said the 
secretary. “I declare, I’m so flustered that I really wonder 
what I should do if the meeting should pass anything im- 
portant enough to be recorded. You want to know what 
the trouble is ? Well, I’ll tell you. I was over here at a 
dinner-party when the sergeant-at-arms — You know what a 
\ sergeant-at-arms is, don’t you ? Well, look it up under S in 
the dictionary — he came along with a summons — a sum- 
mons is a paper that says you must come — and he took every 
one of us but one, whom we left to mind the table and dishes, 
and brought us over to the meeting. We were needed, he 
said, to make up a quorum. I suppose you know ” 

“ No,” said Edgar, “ I don’t. What is a quorum ?” 

The frog looked helplessly at Wild-Cat, and said : 
“ Please explain it to him. It’s too simple for me to bother 
with.” 

“ Go on,” said Wild-Cat. “ He’ll understand before you 
£et through.” 

“ If he doesn’t,” said the frog, “he can look it up under O. 
Well, it took ten members to make a quorum. When we 
all got here there were fifteen of us. The first question on 
which we voted was on amending By-Law XII, so as to make 
twenty members a quorum. This was passed, and from that 
time we were five members lacking of a quorum. From that 
time the president has ruled every motion lost, because he 
said it took twenty votes to carry anything. Every frog in 


126 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


the meeting has made motions to adjourn, but we can’t 
adjourn.” 

‘'But there must be someway ” began Edgar; but 

the secretary protested. 

“ Rule 2 1 says that no business can be done in the absence 
of a quorum. Now isn’t adjourning ‘business’ ?” 

“ If Wild-Cat would only tell a story about frogs, so as 
to make the thing really happen, you’d have a quorum in no 
time,” said Edgar. 

“Just the thing,” said Wild-Cat. “Shall I recite the 
story of the plague of frogs that came upon Pharaoh ?” 

“ Oh, no ! ” said Edgar. “ We would have the ravine full 
of frogs ! Please don’t tell that, even if it is from the Bible. 
Tell about the frog that dove to the bottom of the spring 
and brought back the little princess’s golden ball.” 

“ That wouldn’t be enough,” said the secretary. “ That’s 
about only one frog, and one more wouldn’t make up a 
quorum.” 

“Listen!” said Wild-Cat. “I will recite ‘Frogs at 
School.’ 

“ Twenty froggies went to school, 

Down beside a rushy pool.” 

As he said this twenty little frogs came hopping down to 
the waterside, and sure enough they had 
“ Twenty little coats of green, 

Twenty vests all white and clean.” 

The secretary took his place. A big bull-frog who sang 
bass croaked out, “ I move we adjourn.” 


DINNERS, MEETINGS AND RULES. 12 7 

“ There is a quorum present,” said the president, “ As 
many of you as favor the motion say ‘ Aye !’ ” 

“ Aye ! ” shouted all the frogs. 

“ Contrary, ‘ No ’ ! ” 

“ No!” said Wild-Cat. 



“ THE MEETING DISPERSED.” 


“Carried!” said the president, and immediately the 
meeting dispersed. Edgar watched the secretary and the 
rest of the dinner party scampering back toward their table, 
and thought how pleased the poor lone frog there would 
feel to be excused from his three-weeks’ feast. 

























Che Cbree GCUsbee 






















I 

















































































CHAPTER XI. 


THE THREE WISHES. 

After the frogs adjourned, Edgar sat down upon the 
bank of the pool and looked thoughtfully into the waters. 
The lily-pads stood like flat, green islands in a quiet ocean, 
and insects for islanders walked about upon them. On 
the opposite side was a bed of water-plants with broad, 
arrow-shaped leaves and tall flower-stems shaped, he 
thought, like pine trees. Off to the right was a bed of bul- 
rushes, slender and tall and tasseled. Edgar wondered if 
the Pukwudjies used them for fishing rods. Then he 
thought what beautiful tall masts they would make for fairy 
ships. 

A bright blue dragon-fly darted across the pool and settled 
upon the tip of the tallest bulrush. “ See the snake-doctor ! ” 
said Edgar to his companions ; but no one replied, and 
Edo-ar was not at all astonished to see, on looking around, 
that he was alone again. He had grown to expect such 
things. Wild-Cat, Screech-Owl, Drifting Goose, Meda, 
and all the rest seemed to go out of sight, and return 
like pictures on the screen of a magic lantern, silently and 


132 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


quick as thought. The little boy was not at all lonely, for 
he felt that they were every one his friends, even Young 


“the snake-doctor poised lightly on the tip of the tallest bulrush.” 

Fawn, who had been so angry with him at first, and he was 



THE THREE WISHES . 


133 


sure that some of them would be back presently. So he 
turned his eyes back to the pool, the lily-pad islands, the 
big arrow-head leaves with their tree-like blossom-stems, 
and the graceful bulrushes with the snake-doctor poised 
lightly on the tip of the tallest. At these things he looked 
in silent thought for a minute. Then he said to himself : 

“ Td have him for my pilot.” 

Can you guess what Edgar had been thinking of? Try. 
Cover this page, repeat his words, “ I’d have him for my 
pilot,” imagine him sitting there on the bank, and remem- 
ber the things at which he was looking. Some of you may 
be able to imagine something more interesting than Edgars 
thoughts ; and if you do, write it down, head it “ Edgar’s 
Thoughts as He Sat by the Pool,” send it to me, and I will 
put it into this story instead of what I think he thought, 
which is this : 

The bulrush stood tall and slender, and again Edgar 
thought, “ What a beautiful mast it would make for a fairy 
ship ! ” Then he could almost see the hull of the ship, and 
the deck from which the bulrush sprang. 

“This would be my home port,” said he, “and when I 
passed another vessel at sea, she would hail, “Schooner, 
ahoy ! What schooner is that ! ” And I would answer, 
‘The Cheemaun , of Pukwudjie Ravine, Captain Edgar!’” 

Then as he saw how firmly and lightly the snake-doctor 
stood poised on the bulrush tassel, how bright and keen he 


134 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


looked, and how well he could see the rocks and shores 
from that high perch, he said, “ I’d have him for my pilot !” 
Then he leaned back against the bank, thinking of sailing 
far out over the sparkling waters. 

“ I wish I had such a ship ! ” said he. Now there was a 
part of the pool which was out of sight behind the bulrush- 
bed, so that children sitting where Edgar sat could play 
that over there, in the little hidden bay, the water spread 
out wider and wider into a broad blue ocean. It was of 
this play-ocean that Edgar was thinking when he wished for 
the ship ; and at once he began to believe that there was a 
sea there with sails upon it. He had resolved that he 
would change his resting-place so that he might see the 
whole pool, and know whether the play-ocean had become a 
real one, when he saw a very tall bulrush moving and nod- 
ding above the others. It glided nearer and nearer to the 
end of the bulrush-bed, just as if it were floating in on the 
waters of the hidden bay, and at last, out from behind 
the rushes, came a vessel with her sails spread and her crew 
handily working her into port. She rounded to the pool in 
front of him, and came gently to anchor at his very feet. 
The sails were furled, and Drifting Goose, Meda and 
Wild-Cat stepped ashore, saluted Edgar, and Drifting 
Goose said : “ The Cheemaun and her crew have the honor 
to report for duty.” 



OUT FROM BEHIND THE RUSHES CAME A VESSEL.” 


























































THE THREE WISHES. 


137 


“He means, you know,” said Wild-Cat, “ that we’re here, 
at your service.” 

“ What a beautiful boat !” exclaimed Edgar. 

It looked somewhat like a great lady’s-slipper blossom, 
with pink and purple veins and mottles. There were two 
tall masts of bulrushes growing out of the deck, and all the 
things which are expected on shipboard to be made of 
ropes were of living vines of morning-glory and moon-vine. 
White and blue and pink blossoms covered the railings, 
and looked down open-eyed from the rigging. The stem 
of the lady’s-slipper blossom ran up forward into a bow- 
sprit and jibboom festooned with living smilax, and one 
of the long brown-veined sepals of the calyx spread out into 
a wonderful fringed awning; over the forward deck. The 
sails were great white petals like those of the water-lily, and 
seemed to grow naturally out from the foot of each mast. 
When the vessel was coming into port, they were spread 
out, white and glistening, and held in place by shining webs 
of gossamer; but when they were furled the webs were 
loosened by the crew, and the sails rolled themselves up as 
flowers do in sleep. As she touched the bank a little gust 
of wind came ashore, filled with the scent of all the blossoms 
making up the boat, and loaded the air with fragrance. 
The snake-doctor took his station on the top of the 
mainmast. Drifting Goose, Meda and Wild-Cat stood 


1 3 8 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


respectfully by Edgar on the green bank, while the vessel’s 
crew of Pukwudjies sat and stood in groups on the deck. 

“ What a lovely boat ! ” said Edgar again. “ Surely, 
surely, it can’t be for me?” 

“The Paleface Giant from the Tepee-with-Corners has 
smoked the pipe of peace.” 

“ Not quite that,” said Edgar. “ I only breathed the 
smoke in the tepee.” 

“ It’s the same thing,” said Wild-Cat. “ Don’t interrupt 
the chief, please.” 

“ The hatchet lies buried so deep,” Drifting Goose went 
on, “ that neither our children nor our children’s children 
can ever dig it up ” 

“ Fact is, the miserable thing’s lost,” said Wild-Cat. 

“ So long as the moon and stars shall shine, the Pale-face 
Giant and the Pukwudjies shall be at peace,” continued Drift- 
ing Goose. “ So long as the sun in his course shall pass 
from the forests of the east to the mountains of the west ” 

“Of course, you understand,” said Meda, “that the sun 
does not now, and never did, rise in the forest or set behind 
the mountains. It only seems to do so. You knowhow it 
is in the geography, don’t you ? “ ‘ O. What causes the 

succession of day and night ? ’ “ ‘ A. The succession of 

day and night is caused by the daily revolution of the earth 
on its axis.’ I have invented a chart which explains this, 
and makes it so plain ” 


THE THREE WISHES. 


139 


“ The-Wise-One-with-the-Mud-on-His-Eyebrow and Wild- 
Cat have tongues which pry their jaws apart. Met-a-kon-a- 
gon-tu-la-kang-tug-koosh has spoken ! ” 

Drifting Goose said this very sternly, and folding his 
arms, stood still, seemingly much offended at being so often 
interrupted. 

“ Beg pardon,” said Wild-Cat. “ Go on, go on, Drifting 
Goose.” 

But the Chief only said “ Ugh ! ” and stood in silence. 

“ Now,” said Meda to Edgar, “ about this boat. As 
Drifting Goose has so well said, the Pukwudjies are your 
friends, and feel like treating you as well as fairies ever treat 
any one. At a meeting of the Ravine Council we decided 
that we should like to do you some favor, and Young Fawn 
thought it would be very nice to grant you three wishes. 
She says that seven-league boots, cloaks of invisibility, and 
such things, may not be worn much next year, but three 
wishes are always in style. So we were appointed a com- 
mittee to notify you of our decision. While we were on 
the way, your wish for a ship came in, and here’s the ship. 
We beg you to accept her with our compliments, and wish 
you a pleasant cruise.” 

“ Well, I declare this is queer ! ” thought Edgar. “ Here 
I have three wishes, and one of them spent on a ship before 
I knew I had ’em ! But if I had known all about it, what 
is there more to be wished for than this boat ? I must be 


140 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


all the more careful about the other two, that’s all.” Then 
he said aloud : “You are all very, very kind to me, and I 
shall never forget to be grateful, I ” 

But his friends were gone. 

“ I think they must object to my thanking them,” he 
thought ; “but they knew when I wished for a ship, and I 
hope they’ll understand how thankful I am for it, even if 
they won’t stay to hear me tell it. I couldn’t begin to tell, 
anyhow. That is, I never could finish telling. I know 
that no boy ever had such a boat in all the world. I’ll go 
aboard, I think, and look her over.” 

So he stepped from the bank over the trailing morning- 
glory vines and stood on the deck of his own fairy ship. 


Ht Sea in a Lad/s-SUpper Blossom 









- 





































































































































































































































•• 
















































CHAPTER XII. 


AT SEA IN A LADY’S-SLIPPER BLOSSOM. 

The deck was of a bright green color, and so clean that 
it seemed a pity to walk upon it. There was a rib running 
from prow to stern along its middle, and others slanting off 
from it to the sides ; and after a minute he saw that the 
deck was a great green leaf, upon which the crew moved 
about as silently as if upon a velvet carpet. There was a 
companion-way, dark like the tube of a flower — a golden 
and pearly darkness. 

“ I shall go below, after a while,” said Edgar. “ The 
cabin must be beautiful. But just now I must see about 
making sail.” 

A little Pukwudjie, who seemed to be giving orders, 
stepped out, saluted and said : 

“ Have you any orders, sir? Shall we weigh anchor?” 

“Yes,” said Edgar, “you may take her around the bul- 
rush bed, and then out to sea, until I tell you to stop. 
Why, is this you, Leaping Mouse?” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” said Leaping Mouse, who seemed to be 
the sailing-master, or lieutenant, or mate, or something of 


143 


144 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


the sort, and immediately the vine tendrils which had clasped 
the bulrushes on shore cast off their moorings, the sails 
unfolded, the vessel moved slowly about, and in a few 
moments passed the point of the bulrush bed and rounded 
into the hidden bay. 

Edgar stood under the awning, his heart beating fast 
with excitement as his vessel passed the point and the bay 
came into view. He clapped his hands with delight. It 
was no longer the little hidden bay, with its marshy bank, 
a home for frogs and water-bugs. There has no longer any 
farther bank in sight. The water ran right out between the 
green hills and beyond, then widened into a blue sea. Great 
white birds sailed about over it and white-capped waves 
chased one another as far as the eye could see. The little 
schooner passed between the hills, out of the quiet bay, and 
caught the breeze of the open sea. As her sails filled she 
heeled over until her green deck sloped downward nearly 
to the foam under her lee, and she skimmed the waves like 
a bird, almost flying away into the unknown sea — away from 
the Pukwudjie ravine, out where there was nothing but water 
and sky, and the Cheemaun and the birds sailing between 
them. 

At first he could not help wondering whether it would be 
quite safe to be out so far in a lady’s-slipper blossom. 
What if he should run upon a rock ? Could those thin 
sides withstand the shocks of the waves even ? A little 


AT SEA IN A LAD Y’S-SLIPPER BLOSSOM, 


H5 


uneasy about this, he cast his eye aloft and smiled to see 
the snake-doctor sitting lightly on the tip of the mast, his 
round eyes bulging with watchfulness. 

Edgar walked forward and saw that, while the sails were 
swelled by the fresh breeze which shot the vessel along 
like an arrow, there were no high waves, only here and there 
a white-capped swell, over which the Cheemaun glided like 
a foam-flake, rising and falling as she went, gently as a 
hammock swung under the shade of some green tree. He 
went astern to look back at the shore. It had vanished. 
As far as he could see, on every side, the blue waves, dancing 
in the sunlight, stretched out, unbroken by rock, or island, or 
coast. 

His crew seemed to be busy about the working of the 
vessel, but always when he went to any part of the schooner 
he found himself alone. The Pukwudjies never ran 
away from him ; they just appeared somewhere else. Only 
Leaping Mouse came near him. 

“ I suppose those are flying fish,” said Edgar, as what 
seemed a flock of white birds darted out of the water near 
the vessel, and, after sailing through the air, dived into the 
sea again. 

“Yes,” said Leaping Mouse, “they’re playing tag with 
the dolphins.” 

“ It can’t be wood-tag, for there isn’t a bit of wood in the 
sea, except pieces of wrecks, and they float about so that 


146 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


a fellow couldn’t stand on one for a minute. And it can’t 
be cross-tag, because the dolphins and flying fish have no 
fingers to cross. How do they play it?” said Edgar. 

“No,” said Leaping Mouse, “it couldn’t be wood-tag, and 
it isn’t cross-tag, and it really is not good-natured tag. It’s 
like this: the dolphins are always It. If a flying fish gets 
caught before he leaves the water, he is eaten as a sort 
of forfeit. If the dolphin doesn’t catch the flying fish, 
he goes hungry until the next game. It’s said to be very 
exciting-.” 

Just then a school of fish came shooting out of the water 
close by the vessel’s side. Some of them sailed clear over 
her, and one flew against the mast and dropped down on 
the deck at the feet of Edgar and Leaping Mouse. 

44 He pretty nearly got me that time,” said Flying Fish. 
41 I thought I was gone !” 

e> o 

“Well,” said Edgar, “I think it’s very foolish of you 
to play such a dangerous game ! Why don’t you say you 
won’t play?” 

“ I never thought of that,’' said Flying Fish. 44 Out 
here in the sea we can’t very well refuse to play, you know. 
Nobody ever heard of such a thing before, I’m sure- 
People would talk if we refused to play. And then the 
dolphins are so playful ! It would make no end of hard 
feelings if we were to do that. No, we shall have to go on 
with the game, I think. I don’t believe they’ll ever come 


A T SEA IN A LAD YS-SLIPPER BLOSSOM. 


14 7 


so near catching me again, anyhow. But they came very, 
very near getting me that time !” 

41 1 suppose we’d better put you back into the sea. You re 
getting all dried so that you won’t be able to swim, and 
then you’ll surely be caught. But can’t you say ‘ King’s 
ex’ until you get soaked up again ? ” 

“ King’s ex? Kind’s 
ex ? I never heard of that, 

I’m sure. Does saying 
King’s ex ’ make your, 
fins soak up quicker, or 
— or, what?” asked Fly- 
ing Fish. 

“ Don’t you know about 
that ? ” said Edgar, loftily. 

“ If you don’t, you’ll find 
it a good thing to know* 

When you lose your hat, or when your shoe comes untied, 
or anything like that, and the one that’s It is after you, you 
can say 4 King’s ex ’ or ‘ King’s excuse,’ and he can’t get you 
any more. Do you understand ? ” 

“ But why can’t he?” asked Flying Fish, doubtfully. 

“ Because he can’t,” said Edgar. “ Because it wouldn’t 
be fair, and it wouldn’t count if he did, after you said 

, rr • y y yy 

1 King s ex. 

“ Oh, it wouldn’t, wouldn’t it ! It’s so nice to know that 



: 4 8 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


if I get overcome by too much fresh air some time, and a 
dolphin is catching me, I can say ‘ King’s ex/ and if he eats 
me after that it ‘ won’t count ! ’ Put me back into the water, 
please, — I’m getting as dry as a parson.” 

Flying Fish had become very sarcastic with the cap- 
tain of the Cheemciun , and Edgar felt that he had made 
a mistake by making his suggestion. So as he picked 
Flying Fish up to drop him over the side, he said : “It 
doesn’t seem as if the dolphins would be so unfair as to 
catch you after you said it. Do you think they would ?” 

“ I’m just a little afraid they would. If you can get the 
dolphins to agree to it, we’ll all be very much obliged to 
you. Good-bye, and thank you for your help.” 

“Good-bye,” said Edgar; and after looking carefully to 
see that no dolphins were near, he tossed Flying Fish into 
the sea. 

“ What an odd game !” said Edgar. “ It seems as if it 
ought to be stopped somehow, doesn’t it, Leaping Mouse ? 
I hope he’ll get soaked up all right.” 

And the dolphins and flying fish went on with their game 
of tag, just as they had done for ages, the dolphins always 
It, the flying fish always chased, and no King’s excuse or 
any other excuse to stop it. 

“ What are your further wishes, sir ? ” said Leaping 
Mouse. 


AT SEA IN A LADY'S-SLIPPER BLOSSOM. 


149 


“ I can’t make up my mind,” said Edgar ; “ or at least 
I haven’t made it up yet. I used up one of my three on 
the ship, and I must be very careful what I wish for with 
the other two. I believe I’ll go below, where there isn’t 
so much to disturb me, and think it over.” 















































































Down the Companion-way 


I 5 I 




CHAPTER XIII. 


DOWN THE COMPANION-WAY. 

Going down the companion-way Edgar felt like a bee on 
a journey to the bottom of a deep flower-tube. “ If I only 
had a rapier for a sting, and a yellow and black suit of 
clothes, I could pass for a giant bumble-bee,” thought he. 

“ I wish , There ! I came very near wishing for those 

foolish things, and using up another wish by it ! If Em not 
more careful I shall make as big a goose of myself as the 
man who wished the black pudding in his wife’s nose.” 

The campanion-way grew narrower and darker. Edgar 
was obliged at last to feel his way forward by putting out 
his hands to touch the sides. He could see nothing. The 
passage grew more level, but wound from side to side, and 
at last he could no longer touch the walls, and seemed to be 
walking upon a thick carpet of grass. A cool night wind 
blew upon his face, and he heard about him sounds like the 
whispering of leaves and the rustling of small animals and 
birds in the bush. Looking up, he saw the stars winking 
down at him between the dark tree-tops. 

“ If I didn’t know that I am somewhere in the cabin of my 
i53 


i54 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


ship, I should feel certain that I am lost in a forest,” said 
he to himself. 

Just then he heard a frog croaking somewhere near in 
the darkness, and a whippoorwill called from a tree far 
away. 

“ I am in a forest!” he thought. “How shall I ever 
get back on deck again? And where am I, anyhow? I 
shouldn’t wonder a bit if I turn up somewhere in the 
jungles of Asia, or Africa, or South America. Maybe the 
next thing I meet will be a lion, or a tiger, or a cobra, or a 
hoop-snake, and then I shall have to use up my wishes in 
getting back home. But I’ll try saying ‘ King’s ex’ to him 
first, whatever he is, unless it should happen to be a cobra or 
an hyena. I shouldn’t dare try it with one of them. I don’t 
believe either of them knows what it is to play fair. And 
I am a little afraid something will reach down from the top 
of a tree, or arouud from behind something, and grab me 
before I can say ‘ King’s ex.’ What’s that?” 

It was a fearful scream, which came from somewhere in 
the woods. 

“ I’m scared ! ” said Edgar to the trees. “ Whatever I 
do, I mustn’t scream back,” he thought, “ for it might be a 
panther, trying to fool me.” 

He had learned a story about some great-great-grand- 
mother of his who lived in the forest, right where a big 
city now is. One evening she went out to pick up chips 











, , 
























. 















DOWN THE COMPANION-WAY. 


157 


for her fire. She heard a scream in the forest, and, think- 
ing it was the voice of some woman lost in the wood, she 
answered. It called again, and again she answered. 
The third time she heard it, but this time the scream 
was so much wilder, fiercer, and nearer than before that 
she became frightened and ran into her log cabin, where 
she shut herself in and fastened the door. Then she went 
to the window and, peeking out, saw a great brown panther 
leap into the clearing by the door, where he stood glaring 
and lashing his tail. Now this panther story is true, if any- 
thing in this book is true ; and now you know why Edgar 
felt it wise not to answer any wild screams which he might 
hear coming from the jungle. To be sure, you may say, no 
one had asked him to answer ; but when you find yourself 
suddenly walking through the companion-way of a fairy ship 
into the midst of a strange and dark forest, do you suppose 
you will wait until some one suggests something imprudent 
before you begin to be cautious ? 

So Edgar stood quite still, waiting for another scream. 
Soon he heard it, and it was as much nearer and fiercer as 
it could have been if he had answered it a dozen times. In 
fact it came from the thicket right by his side. He started 
to wish for a log cabin to run into, but stopped just in time 
to save his wish. Then two fiery eyeballs appeared in the 
darkness in front of him, and just as he was about to wish 
himself at home again he heard the familiar voice of 


1 5 8 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


his friend Wild-Cat saying “ Hello ! Glad to see you 
again. Had another attack of insomnia, and am just get- 
ting back from a little walk among the rabbit-paths. Feel 
a good deal better now. Going back to my hermit’s cave. 
There I’ll lie down and think over my life when I was bad, 
and I may do a little weeping. I feel enough like it, I’m 
sure. Glad to have you come home with me.” 

“ Thank you,” said Edgar, “ I shall be glad of the shelter. 
Were those your screams I heard ?” 

“Well, I was practising a few screams; did you hear 
them ? ” 

“They almost scared me to death,” said Edgar. “I 
thought I was in a jungle somewhere, and that it was some 
wild beast coming to devour me. Are we in thePukwudjie 
ravine again ?” 

“ I’m not here again, for I haven’t been away,” answered 
Wild-Cat. “ My cave is right over here by Meda’s medi- 
cine lodge.” 

They came into the light of a camp fire which was burn- 
ing in front of a lodge made of bark and skins. Meda, 
Drifting Goose, and Young Fawn sat by the fire in the 
midst of a group of Pukwudjies. Screech-Owl sat blinking 
on a stump near by. Drifting Goose gravely shook Edgar’s 
hand and said : “The great and strong Chief of the Pale- 
faces and commander of all war canoes is welcome to a seat 
at the council fire of the Pukwudjies.” 


DOWN THE COMPANION- WAV. 


159 


Then all the little squaws and pappooses stepped back 
from the fire, and the warriors, including Edgar, Meda and 
Wild-Cat, sat down in the ring. A pipe was lighted by 
Young Fawn and handed to Meda, who took the first whiff 
from it and passed it to Drifting Goose, from whom it 
passed to every one in the council. It came to Edgar last, 
and he was glad that it was all burned out before it reached 
him. But he put it to his lips as the others had done and 
handed it back to Young Fawn, who was waiting for it. 
Then they all sat silent for a long time. The only sound 
was the crackling of the fire and the snoring of Wild-Cat. 

At last Drifting Goose said : “ Our paleface brother has 
been to the ends of Gitche-Gumee, the Big Sea Water. 
The council of the Pukwudjies open their ears to the tale 
of his great deeds.” Then they all were silent as before, 
except that Wild-Cat woke and kept nudging Edgar as they 
sat side by side in the circle of little copper-colored warriors. 

“Speech, speech, you know,” he whispered. “That’s 
what they want. Tell ’em about your voyage.” 

“ There isn’t much to tell,” said Edgar to the council. 
“ I didn’t get to the end of the water. I sailed until I 
wanted to go below and when I went down the companion- 
way it wound about and came out in the ravine here.” 

“ Very good,” said the chief, “ very good.” 

“But I had the most beautiful ship in the world, and I 
wish — that is I am very sorry to lose her. But maybe I’ll 


i6o 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


find her again some time without using up another wish on 
her. I’ve got two left, you know.” 

“ Wishes or ships ?” asked Meda. 

“ Two wishes left.” 

“ Very good, very good,” said the chief. 

“ I saw the sunlight on the waves and a great many 
beautiful white birds.” 

“Did any of them look like that?” asked Meda, handing 
Edgar something which he took from his pouch. 

It was half of the hoof of a buffalo or an elk, and on it 
was carved a figure something like this : 

o o 



“ THE THUNDER-HIRD.” 

“ No,” said Edgar, looking carefully at the carving ; 
“none of them looked like that. What is it?” 


DOWN THE COMPANION- WAY. 161 

“ It is a great Thunder-Bird of the Indian,” said Meda. 
Then they were all silent again for a long time. At last 
Wild-Cat nudged Edgar, and he went on with his story of 
his voyage. 

u I saw a great many flying fish ” 

“ Very good, very good,” said Drifting Goose. “ We must 
make a record of it,” and he handed a memory stick to one 
of the little warriors. 

“ They were playing tag with the dolphins, you know,” 
Edgar went on, “ and if they get caught they are eaten. I 
don’t think it’s very nice for one fish to eat another, or even 
to chase after other fish so as to make them fly out of the 
water. I think the dolphins are mean ! ” 

“ As a matter of fact,” said Meda, “ they are not really 

dolphins. They are Well, you will remember it better if 

you look it up for yourself. It begins with a C. And 
dolphins are not really fishes either. Look up the matter 
in the dictionary and you’ll not forget their real name. It 
begins with a C too. And the flying fish do not really fly; 
they merely make a long sailing leap through the air ” 

“ And that both begins and ends with a sea,” said Wild-Cat. 
“You can remember that without looking it up.” 

“ It is mean for them to do so,” said Young Fawn. “ But 
Wild-Cat eats rabbits, you know, and Screech-Owl mice.” 

“ And you can’t believe how silly they act when you catch 
them,” said Screech-Owl. “ They squeal in the most absurd 


102 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


manner ! Just as if that could do any good. I know some 
verses about it. I should think some one would ask me to 
recite them. Here they are : 

WHAT THE THUNDER-BIRD SAYS. 

“ The Thunder-Bird sits in his hole in the tree, 

That the world hangs upon like a nut, 

And he lays down the law 
Moving slowly his claw, 

‘It is well to be merciful ; but 
A mouse should not squeak 
At the pinch of a Beak 
Which he knows must in reason be shut, 

Or the Owl’s meat be let go uncut, 

Uncut ! 

Or the Owl’s meat be swallowed uncut ! ’ ” 

“Well, if that Owl’s going to take part in the debate, I 
beg to be excused,” said Wild-Cat. 

“The council stands adjourned,” said Meda. 

“ Come alonof to the cave,” said Wild-Cat to Ed^ar. 

a I’ll go, too,” said Meda ; and the three bade the chief 
and Young Fawn good evening, and walked away together. 


In the JMedirine-Lodge 


163 
















» 

















































CHAPTER' XIV. 



IN THE MEDICINE-LODGE. 

“ Here’s the lodge,” said Wild-Cat — Meda’s Medicine- 
Lodge, you know.” 


“ meda's medicine-lodge.’ 
165 


1 66 IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 

It was a lodge made of a tall, straight pole, with other 
poles leaning up against it and covered with skins. It was 
so much larger than the Pukwudjie tepees that it seemed 
to Edgar quite a sizable building. 

“ How do you get into it ?” asked he. 

“You don’t,” replied Wild-Cat. 

“ Doesn’t some one ? ” 

“ M’hm ; Meda does. But if you were to go in there (if 
you knew the way in), there’s no telling what would become 
of you. You’d probably turn into a woodpecker, and have 
to go about prying into things always afterwards. Or 
something like a live steel-trap might grab you by the leg 
and drag you back under the hill. Or a giant spider might 
come out of its den and glare holes through you with its 
awful eyes. Or you might walk through something you 
took for a door and find yourself in a wolf’s mouth. Or 
you might be chased by a hoop-snake, rolling and rolling 
and rolling after you, ready to let its thorn-tail slip out of 
its mouth to dart into you when it got close enough ” 

“ Stop, stop ! ” cried Edgar. “ You might make all these 
dreadful things happen ! ” 

“ Not using volts enough of mind power,” said Wild-Cat. 
“ And, remember, I say these things might happen to you. 
And then again they mightn’t.” 

“ Why does he call it a medicine-lodge ?” 

“ Because that’s what it is,” said Wild-Cat. “Makes his 


IN THE MEDICINE-LODGE. 


167 


medicine there, you understand — good medicine and bad 
medicine, and this, that and the other. I’m so sleepy I can 
scarcely see, let alone explain things. But you understand, 
don’t you ? ” 

“We-e-e-11,” said Edgar, “I think I do, a little. But 
here’s Meda himself. I’ll 
ask him. Wouldn’t it be 
better for you to lie down 
for a while ? ” 

“M’hm,” said Wild-Cat, 
yawning; and before 
Meda came he was sound 
asleep. 

“ He’s sleeping off his 
insomnia again — or sleep- 
ing it on. Do you think 
it is right to say off or 
on ? ” Edgar asked of 

Meda. “ DRESSED TO ‘ MAKE MEDICINE.’ ” 

“ Perfectly correct,” said Meda, “ if it is true. Some- 
times I say off and sometimes on. If I want a thing off I 
say it off, and if I want it on I say it on. It’s the only thing 
to do.” 

It was plain that Meda did not understand Edgar’s 
question ; and as for Meda’s reply, Edgar could make neither 
head nor tail of it. He thought hard upon it for a long 



IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


1 68 

time, durin£ which the Professor leaned against a tree and 
smoked. At last the child, looking down at the Pukwudjie, 
said : “ I’m only a little boy, you know, and I don’t under- 
stand just what you mean by saying things on and off. 
Would you kindly explain it to me?” 

Meda put one forefinger on the other and said : “ As for 
your being only a little boy, that’s absurd, and we won’t dis- 
cuss it until you can show how a little boy can be twice as 
tall as a grown person, which you certainly are.” 

Then on his second finger he said: “So far as saying 
things on and off goes, why you began it yourself.” 

On his third finger he said : “ As to explaining it, I don’t 
mind showing you how I do it, if you’ll come into the med- 
icine-lodge.” 

“ I have heard that there were live steel-traps, and 
awful-eyed spiders, and hoop-snakes in there. Wild-Cat 
said ” 

“That they might be in there,” said Wild-Cat, as if talk- 
ing in his sleep. 

“ Not in a lodge of mine,” said Meda. “ The idea ! ” 

“ But how do you get in ? ” asked Edgar. 

“ There are two ways,” said Meda. “ The first way is to 
go up this tree until you reach the hollow under the third big 
limb. Crawl into the hollow, being careful not to disturb 
the swallows’ nests. Climb down inside the tree until you 
get to the root, and follow the big hollow root until you 


IN THE MEDICINE-LODGE. 


169 


come to some coals of fire and ashes in the fireplace of the 
lodge. Hop over the coals, and there you are.” 

“ I see ; you use the hollow tree for a chimney. The hole 
isn’t very big. I’m sure I couldn’t get into it.” 

“ Then you can use the second way,” said Meda. “ That 
is by way of the door on the other side of the lodge. I go 
in that way myself. But I have my pupils use the hollow 
tree. It’s an excellent training for them. None of them 
have ever got into the lodge, but you would be pleased to 
see them climb ! Come with me.” 

Sure enough, there was a flap of skins on the other side, 
which Meda lifted up, and he and Edgar stepped into the 
lodge. It was dark as pitch inside until the Professor 
twitched a spider’s web, and at once thousands of twinkling 
lights flashed out. At first Edgar thought they were some 
odd kind of electric lights, but on looking closer he saw 
that they were fireflies. There were so many of them that 
there was no moment of time when hundreds of them were 
not alight, so that they gave the prettiest display imaginable 
and made the lodge fairly light. 

“My own lighting system,” said Meda. “Tamed the 
fireflies myself and put in the cobweb connections.” 

“ It’s very pretty,” said Edgar. 

Meda threw some bark on the coals in the fireplace. 
The smoke went out by the hollow root and the blaze 
lighted up the lodge so that the fireflies were no longer 


i7o 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


needed. Meda gave the cobweb another twitch and his queer 
lighting system stopped work. 

Edgar and the medicine-man sat on the ground, and 
while Meda smoked, Edgar looked about the lodge. It 
was a queer place. The skins were all brightly colored on 
the inside, with pictures of suns and moons, bows and arrows, 
animals and birds. There was a bearskin with a great 
thunder-bird in red hanging over the fireplace. 

After what Wild-Cat had said about this being the place 
where Meda “ made medicine,” he had expected to see 
it fitted up like a druggist’s shop. But there was nothing 
to be seen in the way of bottles or mortars or flasks. There 
was a gourd filled with mud hanging on the center-pole, 
and that seemed to be all the furniture. Meda picked the 
dried mud from his eyebrow, took a fresh lump from the 
gourd and, after moulding it between his fingers, stuck it on 
his eyebrow in place of the one thrown away. 

“ Mud, O Paleface Giant,” said he, u is of the earth from 
which all things get their bodies. This mud is strong, good 
medicine. It is made from the nest of the wasp, the dust 
dug by the ant, and the home of the swallow. It is wet 
by the dew. The wasp is a brave warrior. The ant is wise 
and diligent. The swallow is swift as the wind. This mud 
on the brow of the wise one of the Pukwudjies makes his 
mind diligent and wise as the ant, swift as the swallow, 
brave as the wasp and pure as the dew. Meda has spoken.” 













































V 

















IN THE MEDICINE-LODGE. 


173 


As he paused he handed Edgar a memory stick, which he 
took and put into his pocket. They sat for a long time, 
Meda smoking, Edgar gazing into the fire. 

“ I didn’t understand that mud business before. It’s 
very interesting,” said the Paleface Giant. 

“ Ugh ! ” said Meda, and smoked on. 

“ Medicine,” said Edgar, after a while, “in my country is 
something we take when we are sick. When you take it 
in capsules or tablets it isn’t so bitter, but most of it tastes 
just dreadful. You don’t make that kind of medicine do 
you ? ” 

“No, O Paleface — — ” 

“ I thought at first that you did.” 

“ No, O Paleface,” Meda went on, “ the medicine of 
the Indian is made of words and thoughts, of the Thunder- 
Bird and the Winds. When the Pukwudjies go forth on 
the warpath the Wise-One-With-the-Mud-on-His-Brow says 
strong words in the lodge, and the Pukwudjies win the 
battle. That is medicine. When the snow covers the 
ground so that the birds cannot feed, the medicine-words 
of Meda take it away, and they bring snow for tracking 
quail in the winter.” 

“ Oh ! I see now,” said Edgar; “ that’s what you mean by 
saying things on and saying things off.” 

“ You have said it,” said Meda, and for a long time they 
sat silently by the fire. Edgar was thinking. 




Che Last GHisbes 


*75 




■ 


























• 






































CHAPTER XV. 


THE LAST WISHES. 

“ After all,” said Edgar, “it seems that medicine can be 
something which isn’t taken and doesn’t cure any one.” 

“Well,” said Meda, “you don’t take it, you make it. 
But it cures people all the same.” 

“ I don’t see how it can,” said Edgar ; “you can’t see it, 
nor taste it, nor feel it. It seems to be something like think- 
ing or magic, you know; then how can it cure people?” 

“ I don’t explain that to my pupils until they finish the 
work of the senior 548th grade. Are you ready for such 
advanced work ? ” 

“ I’ve been through loner division, and I can bound all the 

o o 7 

New England States, and ” 

“ Oh, well, you’ll find the work easy then,” said Meda. 
4< In the first place, when do people need curing? When 
they are sick, of course. What makes them sick?” 

“ Colds and fevers and measles and mumps, and such 
things,” answered Edgar. 

“ Not a bit of it,” replied Meda. “ You won’t get marked 
very high on that answer. Germs make people sick — germs 


1 77 


i;8 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


in the blood — microbes, you know. They make you ill. 
They’re little imps that swim about in the blood, and mump 
and measle and things like that, and make the owner of the 
blood sick.” 

“ What do the whooping-cough germs do ? — whoop, or ” 

“ Never mind that now. That comes twenty-three les- 
sons further on. Now, when a person is sick, how does he 
get well ? By the killing off of the germs. What kills 
them off ? The corpuscles in the blood. Do you know 
what a blood corpuscle is ?” 

“Of course I do,” said Edgar. “It’s a little round red 
thing that swims in the blood.” 

“ Oh, I don’t mean those common red corpuscles,” said 
Meda ; “ I mean the white ones, the leucocytes. When- 
ever any germs get into the blood, the white corpuscles 
make up a war party and destroy the microbes. As long 
as their work isn’t too hard you keep well. But when too 
many or too big germs get in, the leucocytes get behind 
in their work and you get sick. Then the white corpuscles 
must be encouraged, and the way to encourage them is to 
talk to them. Why I can talk to your corpuscles so that 
they will go out and drag down and eat up the biggest germ 
that ever left Germany.” 

“Germs don’t come from Germany, do they?” said 
Edgar. 

o 

“ Well, if they don’t, why do they go by that name ?” re- 


THE LAST WISHES. 


179 


joined Meda. “ I don’t know where they come from, if they 
don’t come from Germany. But it’s just like the odious 
creatures to give assumed names. Anyhow, I prefer not to 
be interrupted. 



“reciting ‘the corpuscle’s war-crys.’ ” 

“ Now, suppose you come to me and complain of teeth- 
ing or appendicitis,” Meda went on, “ I shouldn’t operate 
on you or give you anything but ideas. I should just re- 
cite the ‘ Battle Song of the Leucocytes ’ or ‘ The Corpus- 
cle’s War-Cry,’ and pretty soon your white corpuscles would 
get so puffed up with pride and so swollen with bravery that 


i8o 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


they would just go out and surround the germs and destroy 
them. I just wish you had smallpox or something now ; I 
should like to show you.” 

“ I am much obliged,” said Edgar, “ but I think I should 
rather remain well. But could you tell me the things you 
repeat to cure people ? ” 

“ One of them begins : 

“ I’m a corpuscle pale, 

And I camp on the trail 
Of the microbe that lurks in the veins; 

I jump on his frame 
When he tries to inflame 

And to pester the system with pains. 

“ There is a good deal more of it, but that's all I can 
give in one lesson. Another one is : 

“ Onward, White Corpuscle, 

Seize the hated germ ! 

Shrink not from the tussle, 

Be thou bold and firm ! 

“Why, by this time your leucocytes are ranging up and 
down your arteries, just aching for a battle. Don’t ever 
think again that my medicine doesn’t cure. I sometimes 
wish the Pukwudjies were not fairies, so that they might be 
ill sometimes. As it is, I don’t know whether I shall ever 
have a patient.” 


THE LAST WISHES. 


1 8 1 


Several Pukwudjies came silently in at the door, as 
Edgar sat pondering on the leucocytes and their wars with 
the germs. Some of them spread skins on the ground 
before the fire, and soon all Edgar’s ravine acquaintances, 
except the pappooses, were seated in a semi-circle, silent 
and looking as if they were pondering too. The frogs 
were there, looking coldly at Screech-Owl. Presently 
the Secretary opened his “Rules of Order” and began 
turning the leaves over as if looking for his place. 

“ Do the germs ever eat one another up ?” asked Edgar. 

“ You can make ’em do it if you turn on volts enough,” 
said Wild-Cat. “ Pm sure I could if I wanted to bother my- 
self with it.” 

“ That would save the corpuscles all their work,” said 
Edgar ; and after a pause he went on : “ Now, after I had 
the measles, they told me I’d never catch it again. I won- 
der why that is ? ” 

“ The answer is easy,” said Meda ; “ your leucocytes have 
learned how to dispose of the measles germs. Practice 
makes perfect. Your corpuscles know just how to get the 
strangle-hold on them, because they have had the experience. 
Now rheumatism germs are tougher. The corpuscles don’t 
seem to be able to learn how to handle them.” 

“ But, after all,” said Wild-Cat, “ I believe insomnia 
oferms are the worst.” 

o 

“ I know a boy who had typhoid-pneumonia,” said Edgar. 


1 82 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


Do you suppose the germs were half-breed typhoid and 
pneumonia, or what could they have been ? ” 

“ They certainly must have been half-breeds,” said 
Meda. 

“ I differ with you. The typhoid germs must have met 
the pneumonia microbes and made a treaty. Then they 
joined their two war parties and went about through the 
blood, making trouble. The doctors called the trouble 
typhoid-pneumonia, just as people called the war between 
the Boers and English the Anglo-Boer War,” said Wild-Cat. 

“ You are certainly mistaken,” said Meda. “ The English 
and Boers were on opposite sides, so that doesn’t prove any- 
thing.” 

“ Well, the typhoid-pneumonia was on opposite sides, too, 
wasn’t it, now?” said Wild-Cat, appealing to Edgar. 

“Yes, it certainly was on both sides,” Edgar replied. 
“ But one of our neighbors was ill last winter with a ‘ compli- 
cation of diseases,’ as the doctor called it. Was that caused 
by a lot of war parties of different kinds of germs getting 
together and agreeing to do things, or — or what ?” 

“ I move that the question be indefinitely postponed,” 
said the frog with the book of rules. 

“ I second the motion,” said Screech-Owl. 

“ All who are not able to answer vote ‘ Aye,’ ” said Drifting 
Goose ; and every one said “ Aye ! ” “ Those opposed say 

‘No,’” the chief went on. Nobody voted. “The ayes 
have it, and the motion prevails ! ” 


THE LAST WISHES. 


183 


Wild-Cat looked relieved, but Meda smoothed the mud 
on his eyebrow and was as calm as ever. 

“ Have you used up your three wishes yet ?” asked Young 
Fawn of Edgar. 

“ I used one of them before I knew about them,” said 
Edgar, “ but the boat I got was worth it. I have two wishes 
yet. I’m glad I got the boat; for two wishes are plenty, 
alter all, and I think the boat was the most beautiful one 
ever seen. I like boats so much that I make them every 
day at home. I’ve built an armored cruiser that I wish I 
had here, so I could show it to you. Why, what’s the matter 
with the lodge ! ” 

No wonder Edgar was astonished ; for while he was talk- 
ing the lodge suddenly changed into a little square room 
wainscoted in red wood and lighted by a cluster of electric 
lights. He ran out of the door into a long passage which 
brouo-ht him to a stair, up which he climbed and came out upon 
the deck of a great ship. There were big guns peering out 
of their turrets. He could feel the throb of the engines 
and machinery. An immense searchlight threw a bright 
beam over the waves as the cruiser rushed through the 
water, and through the smoke from the stacks he could see 
military masts with fighting-tops bristling with machine-guns. 

The Pukwudjies, with all the creatures who were in the 
lodo-e, came on deck. Screech-Owl with a quivering cry 
flapped away into the darkness. The Secretary, after 


1 84 IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 

looking in the “ Rules of Order,” hopped over the side. 
All the other frogs followed his example. 

“ Thank you very much,” said Young Fawn. 

“ I don’t understand it at all!” cried Edgar. “ How do 
we happen to be on this warship away off here on the 
ocean ? ” 

“ Did not the Great Chief of the Palefaces wish for it?” 
said Drifting Goose. 

“Oh, what a foolish boy I am!” said Edgar. “Now I 
have only one wish left. How shall I get home without 
using it up ? What shall I do ! ” 

He sat down on a stool and wept. 

“See the one-eyed cats coming,” said Wild-Cat. 

Edgar looked and saw many searchlights, like gleaming 
eyes, coming toward him over the ocean. 

“ Those are not cats ; they are searchlights, like ours,” 
said Edgar. 

“ O Commander of Canoes,” said Drifting Goose, “ it 
is a war-party of great ships. We shall have a battle. 
Give your orders and we will obey.” 

“But I don’t know what orders to «;ive ! I don’t know 
how to work the guns ! ” cried Edgar. “ I wish I had some 
more wishes ! I wish — — ” 

“King’s ex! King’s ex!” said all the Pukwudjies 
together. 

“ That isn’t fair,” said Meda ; “ no fairy would ever dare 


THE LAST WISHES . 


185 

grant even one wish if that were allowed. You can’t wish 
for more wishes— it’s a thing that’s never done.” 

“ But that’s no reason why it shouldn’t be done,” answered 
Edgar, forgetting for a moment about the battle. “ It seems 
to me that it’s the only thing to do ; but if it isn’t fair, I 
suppose I shall have to get along without it. Oh, see ! 
They’re opening fire ! ” 

Boom ! bang ! came the voice of the cannon-shots. All 
the searchlights were pointed at the ship and the projectiles 
went smashing through the rigging. A great shell came 
directly at Meda, who, instead of getting out of the way of 
it, clasped it with his legs and arms and sailed away. 

“ Good-bye! ” said Drifting Goose. 

“ Good-bye ! ” said Edgar, as a solid shot struck one of 
the turrets. “ I have had a very pleasant time in the ra- 
vine. Please come to see me again.” 

“Honk! honk!” was the reply, and Edgar looked for 
the great chief of the Pukwudjies, only to see a great wild 
gander and goose rise from the deck and go honking off 
into the darkness. No one but Edgar and Wild-Cat was 
left upon the cruiser. 

“ You can steer,” said Edgar ; “ take the wheel and steer 
away from all this shooting ! ” 

“Aye, aye, sir!” said Wild-Cat. “Yeow-w-w!” and 
screaming like a panther, he turned the cruiser, first one 
way and then another, but always the glaring searchlights 


1 86 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA . 


were seen ahead. They were surrounded. The smoke- 
stacks and masts were shot away and there was a terrible 
explosion inside the ship. She began to sink. 

“ This is a pretty scrape you’ve got us into ! ” said Wild- 
Cat. “ I never saw anything as bad as this when I sailed 
the Spanish Main ! ” 

Ed^ar saw that he should be obliged to use his last wish. 
But what should he wish ? If he wished himself back in 
bed, where Drifting Goose first found him, what would be- 
come of Wild-Cat ? It did not seem right to leave that 
jolly hermit to sink with the cruiser. Besides, it was hardly 
proper, he thought, for the captain of the ship to desert her 
even to save his life. So it happened that while he was 
hesitating the ship sank and drew him down, down into the 
sea. 

Then all at once he seemed to be a flying fish and 
Wild-Cat a dolphin, playing the old, old game of tag, with 
the dolphin always It and the flying fish always to be eaten 
if caught. He darted through the water, and just as he 
could almost feel the snap of the dolphin’s teeth on his tail, 
he shot out of it and sailed away out over the land and into 
the Pukwudjie Ravine. He was a rabbit then, scurrying 
about in the brush, with Wild-Cat watching for him at some 
crossing of the paths. 

il I got him off the ship, anyhow,” thought the poor little 
rabbit; “that’s one comfort.” 



ONLY TO SEE A GREAT WILD GANDER AND GOOSE RISE FROM THE DECK 





















































































THE LAST WISHES. 


189 


He saw Wild-Cat’s eyes gleaming from among the 
foliage. Turning he ran, and pretty soon he was a mouse 
with the Screech-Owl chasing him. He scuttled about 
among the leaves, and finally found a large one in which he 
tried to wrap himself. Over and over he turned, and all 
the time something seemed to be trying to unwrap him. 

‘ u I’m not a mouse ! Don’t eat me ! ” he cried. “ I’m the 
Chief of the Palefaces ! ’’ 

“ Little goosie, stop twisting yourself up in the blankets ! ” 
said his mamma’s voice. “ You’er not the chief of the Pale- 
faces.” 

And there he lay in bed again, after all his adventures. 
***#**❖❖* 

He has never yet been able to find any of his ravine 
friends again, although the screech-owls are to be heard 
there of an evening, calling to each other, and once he has 
found tracks which he could almost believe were those of 
the wild-cat. As for the frogs, their singing society has 
rehearsals regularly. He wants to find Drifting. Goose. 
He would like to ask that chieftain whether under all the 
circumstances the third wish is not still due. 

He and Annabel still call the place the “ Pukwudjie Ra- 
vine,” and sometimes they expect to see once more their 
village of Indian Fairies. It is a great comfort to them to 
know that all the fairies are not away off somewhere in 
the Black Forest or the Hartz Mountains. There may be 


190 


IN THE FAIRYLAND OF AMERICA. 


more elves and gnomes and pixies in Europe than in Amer- 
ica, but there isn’t a Pukwudjie in Europe, while here, 
wherever there is a ferny nook or a lonely wood, you may 
expect to find them, and, if you are worthy of it, to be ad- 
mitted to their villages of tepees. And if you should fail to 
find the little copper-colored elves, you will certainly get 
acquainted with some of their animal friends. So you are 
sure to gain by the search, no matter what happens. 



THE END. 


it Oct 29 1601 




OCT (8 1901 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000257fcifci7 c H 




